Archaeologist's Holiday
by jo taylor
Summary: Daniel, plagued by nightmares, takes time out to decide if the SGC is where he really wants to be. But it's never that simple, is it? Spoilers up to Meridian.
1. Default Chapter

Author's note: This is my first foray into Stargate fiction, (my usual playground is Babylon 5 or Crusade), so please be kind as I am still feeling my way around hereg  
  
I'll post more as the story comes back from my beta.  
  
Feedback always welcome.  
  
  
  
Archaeologist's holiday  
  
Chapter 1  
  
Only the buzz of Daniel's shaver disturbed the quiet of his apartment. Outside, traffic was still slow, the sun having yet to rise above the city. Sleep held no attraction for him, but then neither did the daylight hours.  
  
He glanced quickly at the mirror, trying to avoid the reflection of his tired eyes. But once caught, he found himself locked to the image. There were dark circles under his eyes that, so far at least, had only garnered the odd concerned look from the rest of the team. He knew it wouldn't be long before one of them tackled him about late nights and lack of sleep. But that wasn't it, wasn't it at all. For the last month or more he had felt reluctant to do anything.  
  
A week before, sitting in his cramped office hundreds of feet within the mountain, he had begun to feel claustrophobic. All around him, shelves littered with years of research had seemed to be closing in, taking the recycled air out of his lungs. He had lunged to his feet, racing out into the corridor with his heart beating nineteen to the dozen, sweat forming across his suddenly chill skin. Thankfully no one had been traversing the corridor to witness his sudden explosive exit. After a few minutes his pulse had returned to normal, the pounding in his temples had dropped to a faint thump, and his heart settled back to a normal rhythm. A panic attack, that was all it was – right?  
  
Pupils, too wide in the morning light, accused him of more than that, and nor could he blame it on a steady diet of caffeine. The nightmare that had woken him early that day lingered in his memory long after it should have faded. Not that it was one particular dream that shattered his rest night after night. He ran a hand over his face, trying to wipe the thoughts from his mind. The frown that seemed to live permanently between his brows only increased. Perhaps it was the constant nag of an almost headache that contributed to the lines on his forehead that had only deepened as the months and years wore on.  
  
For all of two minutes during that attack, while terrified out of his mind, he had contemplated running to the infirmary and Janet's care. The moment his symptoms had begun to subside however, he had banished that idea from his head. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate all that Doctor Fraiser had done for him over the years; heck, she had kept them all ticking over when by rights they should have been invalided or worse. Nightmares? No, he wasn't going to her with those. Panic attacks? Nope, he couldn't face the thought of Dr McKenzie delving into his mind again any time soon. White walls, soft flooring and the glare of artificial lights suddenly burst into his consciousness.  
  
Damn, he thought he had put that behind him. Closing his eyes against the living image, he forced his thoughts away from that piece of his history, instead searching for something more pleasant to dwell upon. Sam's birthday yesterday, that was it.  
  
The pleasure on her face when, after their debriefing, General Hammond had given a curt order and within moments a large birthday cake had been brought in. Jack's "Carter, is there something you haven't told us?" made his mouth twitch with remembered amusement.  
  
Jack and Teal'c had already arranged a little surprise of their own for later in the day. Daniel had been a little dubious about the treat, after all Sam had said nothing about her birthday this year, probably because she didn't trust the Colonel after the last few 'surprises'. This year though, they had actually got her something she really wanted. Even now it sat in her lab, still in its box. Daniel couldn't remember what it was called, something to do with spectography? He wasn't sure, he only knew that the item wasn't available on this planet, and that Jack had done some fast talking to squeeze it out of the inhabitants on P3X 996. It was safe to say that the gizmo could do no harm, couldn't be used as a weapon of any kind, which was probably how he had got away with it. But Daniel had practically heard the wheels go round as Jack had watched Sam almost drool over the off limits technology. That had been some six months before, and Jack and Teal'c had been planning since then.  
  
His own gift had been something much more personal. She had stared at him with wonder, as though he had given her the secret to time-travel. The necklace was nothing elaborate, but it was ancient, probably belonged in a museum if the truth were told; but jewellery was meant to be worn, and this piece had had no owner for thousands of years. His parents had dug it up when he was just a child, the gold twist that sat against the neck, the inserts of lapis and amber that glowed against warm skin. The stones delicately carved with lotus blossoms. He had forgotten about it until he had finally started to unpack the boxes that had sat in the corner of his apartment for months. The warmth of her arms about him as she hugged him tight, the genuine pleasure he had felt in her kiss on his cheek had stayed with him until he had reached home. He had gone to bed full of contented thoughts and a mild buzz of alcohol, and then he had dreamt.  
  
The drive to work was enlivened by a torrential downpour that seemed to suck any warmth from the air and made it hard to see the road ahead. He took it slow, making his way up to the facility with a reluctance that was only encouraged by the weather. Even though he was early, he saw Jack's four wheel drive parked ahead of him. He got out slowly, not wanting to bump into any of the others just yet, his head stilled buzzed from the dream that seemed to now follow him into his days. Hearing the thud of the elevator doors, he picked up speed, nodding to security as he made his way to the double doors.  
  
Turning the corner, expecting to find the corridor empty, he found that the colonel was still standing at the elevator doors. It was too late to turn back now, Jack had seen him, so, putting on a wan smile that he felt slip almost right away, he made his way to join his team leader.  
  
"Morning, Daniel."  
  
"Jack."  
  
They waited in silence for the few moments it took for the elevator to return to the surface. The two men stepped in side by side; Daniel with his eyes on the floor, the walls, anywhere but at Jack.  
  
"Everything okay, Daniel? You're in early this morning." The underlying concern in Jack's voice, made Daniel wince. They were all a little protective of one another, but sometimes the colonel's acuteness when it came to him was down right unnerving.  
  
"Fine, sorry, a little lost in thought. Lots of work waiting for me. SG5 brought back some interesting footage, could be Mayan…" He rambled on for a moment longer, knowing that Jack would phase out what he was saying sooner rather than later. It worked; he saw the frown hover over the older man's brow, the hand coming up to wave away his explanation.  
  
They parted at the exit, after Daniel had passed on joining Jack for breakfast, claiming he had had something earlier. He hadn't, but Jack didn't need to know that or he would drag him off willing or no.  
  
The office he had been assigned when he first joined the SGC was now crammed to the ceiling with artefacts, videos from earlier missions, and piles and piles of reference books. For the last few years this room had felt more like home than his apartment had, and what did that say about him he wondered? When he had lived on Abydos, his life had not been restricted to four walls, he had joined the community, become one with the people, when had he become so insular?  
  
The only people he interacted with now were the personnel at the base, and his fellow team-mates. Oh, and the odd alien race that didn't want to kill them, use, them or generally look down on the human race. He sighed, much as he cared for Jack, Teal'c and Sam he missed the interaction with his peers, though of course he didn't really have anyone outside the mountain to whom he could discuss anything. How easy it would be to let slip that on a certain planet he had seen something that totally turned a particular historical absolute on its head.  
  
Flicking on the computer, waiting for the screen to load, he headed to the commissary to fill his bottomless cup with caffeine-laden coffee. Sam's brilliant smile met him half way there and he couldn't help returning it.  
  
"You look a little worse for wear, Daniel, everything okay?"  
  
"Drank a little too much alcohol last night. You're here early."  
  
Sam's smile twinkled again and she looked vaguely sheepish. "The colonel's gift, I just wanted to set it up. Some of the samples that we brought back last week should be much easier to analyse now I, we, have the right equipment."  
  
"Have fun." Daniel watched her head, all eagerness, toward her lab. Today, he felt as old as some of the pieces that littered his office and home, somewhere over the last few months he had lost his enthusiasm for the job. He had walked through the last couple of off world missions; there had been nothing there to interest an archaeologist, let alone a linguist. Barren worlds, long deserted, mass destruction visible in every direction with nothing to indicate what civilisation might have lived there. He had been trained all his life to live with the dead, but now…  
  
In the commissary there were still a few people having a late breakfast. Talk ranged from the ball game the night before to the current off world missions - and then one conversation filtered into his brain. "Yeah, we always get away that time of year, the beaches are great, miles of sand and hardly anyone else around. You should try it!"  
  
When was the last time he had had a holiday? That dig out at Giza maybe, or was it helping with the restoration work in the Cairo Museum? It was long before that disastrous talk he had given to an empty hall. Of course that had led to the SGC and Abydos, and the woman who lived still in his heart though she was gone from his world. 'Don't go there' he berated himself. The sudden grip on his heart slackened a little as he forced his anguish back into the corner of his mind where all the pain of his life was stored.  
  
Suitably filled with extra strong coffee, Daniel started on the first of the footage brought back for his attention. Three hours later, eyes aching from too much screen work, the headache was back. Each member of the team had been by during that time; each had received a less than warm welcome and had gone away puzzled. Daniel, after all, was one of the easiest going of the whole SGC.  
  
Having pushed his door too, an almost unprecedented occurrence, he had not expected to be disturbed again, so when the door swung open, his short- tempered "Now what!" seemed to hang heavy in the air.  
  
General Hammond stopped on the edge of entering the room, his pale eyes surveying his sometimes-wayward civilian.  
  
"Oh, sorry General, I didn't realise it was you. I've been a little busy and it just seemed… anyway, sorry."  
  
Hammond observed Daniel for a moment longer then, stepping into the room he shut the door behind him. Daniel's pulse rate went up a notch, the general didn't come to you, you went to him.  
  
"It's come to my attention Doctor Jackson, that you are getting a little behind in your work. Not your fault I know," the general put up a hand forestalling Daniel's imminent rebuttal. "I've been given a bit more on the budget to hire another translator, I want your opinion."  
  
Daniel, the wind effectively taken out of his sails, sat down with a thud at his desk. "Well, um, anything I can do. You have someone in mind? A list of possibles?"  
  
Hammond handed over a list of candidates and turned to go. "I want your recommendations as soon as possible, Doctor."  
  
"Right. No problem…"  
  
For a long moment he stared at the door, half expecting someone else to disturb him. After five minutes he let his gaze drop to the pages lying on his desk. Names leaped out at him, Thompson, Green, Mendoza, Phillips. All eminent men and women well respected in their relevant fields, and every one of them had been at that damned meeting. Only Janice Phillips had been willing to hear him out, well half way at least. He had kept up with the journals, had seen her name on some rather interesting papers; perhaps she had taken more on board that he had thought at the time. Reading down her bio, he noted with interest that she had recently been working on Mayan remains. His mouth quirked into a smile at the thought of taking her to visit Nick.  
  
The old man had given up his crowded apartment a few months before. Though Nick had voluntarily taken up residence in the institution, his life's work had been housed in the small rooms he had purchased shortly after his first expedition to Egypt. Now that he was happily settled with his 'giant aliens' Nick had been adamant that his collection should go to Daniel. Some of the collection Daniel had given to the museum, other pieces he had held on to, and Nick's journals were on his shelf, here at the mountain. He hadn't liked to read them when Nick had first handed them over. He could hear his grandfather's voice echoing in his head even now. "Nonsense, my boy. After all the years I locked you out of my life, well it's about time you knew what I was doing. And one day, you never know, they might just be useful."  
  
Considering where they had been, Nick's note books were in pretty good condition. One at least had been in the water; its green tinged pages were still legible though. Daniel pulled one down from the shelf, checked the dates and opened it. The Belize trip, the one that had sent Nick into the mental hospital and had given the SGC time to wonder if Daniel too might be a little touched.  
  
It was an hour later when Daniel put down the first of the journals. Nick had an easy style of writing that made his travels seem to leap from the page in vivid scenes. The old man had done a lot with his life, though his main fascination had been for the Mayan civilisation. Their barbaric rituals had never appealed to Daniel, for him the love poetry of the ancient Egyptians held far more fascination.  
  
Turning his attention back to his computer, he worked diligently onward transcribing the text from that morning. It was of little interest, revealing nothing that the SGC was not aware of, but it had to be done. In some ways having another linguist on board might not be a bad idea he mused. Boredom settled in him with insidious penetration, and he found his mind wandering away from his task.  
  
Ten minutes later, Sam found him lost in thought, glasses tossed to one side, eyes gazing blankly at the rows of Nick Ballard's journals.  
  
"Hey Daniel, got a minute?"  
  
Snapping out of his reverie, the two front legs of his chair thudded back to the floor almost tipping him off its slippery seat. Daniel turned almost guiltily to survey his team-mate.  
  
"Penny for them," Sam grinned, aware that she had caught the archaeologist in some private daydream.  
  
"Might take a little more than that," he murmured then, catching her raised brow, continued, "just thinking about something, um, what can I do for you?"  
  
"Actually it was more what I can do for you. Remember that cube of granite like material we brought back from our last trip?"  
  
Daniel didn't, he'd been wandering around only half aware of what the others were doing. Sam always had an interest in the geological oddities, and he hadn't noticed that artefact in particular. He nodded his interest but still garnered a slightly suspicious look from her.  
  
"Okay, well I think you might be interested in what I found."  
  
They moved down the hall to Sam's lab; Sam in the lead, anxious to show off her new toy and the findings it had produced.  
  
"Hey kids, whatcha doing?"  
  
"Sam has been experimenting with the rock sample we brought back."  
  
"Ah, the new gizmo I take it?" Jack's barely suppressed smile lurked in his eyes as he exchanged a knowing look with Daniel.  
  
On a plastic slab in the centre of her worktable stood the lump of rock that had caused their colleague to become so excited. A perfect cube, obviously tool worked, it was perfectly plain. No marks had been discovered on any of its age-roughened sides, and it had only been its uniformity that had attracted Sam's notice in the first place, and the slightly strange pink cast to the otherwise ordinary colouring.  
  
"Look here, sir." Directing O'Neill's attention to the monitor. There, in the dead centre of the block, was a sphere of dense metal.  
  
"What is it?" Jack angled closer to the screen as if to clarify the image.  
  
"I don't know. The readings indicate a heavy metal that I've not come across before. It's not a natural formation, of that I am certain; but what it does…" she shrugged.  
  
"Is it dangerous?" the colonel asked her pointedly.  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
Daniel and Jack shared a look. "You don't think you should find out, major?"  
  
"I've run every test on it that I can think of. No radiation of any kind is being emitted that our technology can detect."  
  
"And your new doohicky here?" Jack's fingers rested lightly on the unassuming box.  
  
Sam's head shook in denial. "Nothing, sir. I can't even penetrate the metal to see if it encloses anything else."  
  
"Why would it, Sam?" Daniel asked, finally being drawn in by the mystery.  
  
"Instinct I guess," she tossed him a frustrated smile, not really seeing him at all.  
  
"The general know about this, this…thing?"  
  
"Yes I do, colonel." The facility's leader entered the lab quietly. "What news, major?"  
  
Sam went through her findings once more, unaware of Daniel's drifting attention.  
  
"Well let's just open it up." Jack looked around the room for a suitable implement.  
  
"Um, is that such a good idea, Jack? Remember the last time we tried breaking something open?"  
  
The colonel gave his civilian a considered look, then shrugged. "Okay, maybe not such a good idea. What do you suggest, Carter?"  
  
"Actually sir, I rather think that, under controlled conditions of course, that is our only option. This metal holds properties that could be of great value to us if we can only figure out what its components are."  
  
"Well, I'll leave you to it then. Report as soon as you can, major."  
  
As the general turned to leave he called to Daniel. "Doctor Jackson, have you had a chance to review that list I gave you?"  
  
"Hum, oh, oh yes general. Can you give me till tomorrow? I want to check out a few things first if that's okay?"  
  
Hammond nodded; his eyes narrowing for a moment as he noted the faraway look that had returned to the linguist's eyes.  
  
***  
  
Night had already closed in when Daniel left the facility. He had made sure he was the last to leave, waiting until Jack had poked his head in to say goodnight, before switching off his computer and rubbing tired eyes. Only Teal'c had disturbed him that afternoon. The jaffa had not made any comment on Daniel's listless appearance, the sag of his shoulders or the blown pupils indicating more than just fatigue. He had stood in the doorway, head tilted slightly to one side, saying not a word.  
  
Daniel had looked up and caught the imperturbable gaze.  
  
"Are you well Daniel Jackson?"  
  
So even Teal'c had noticed. Daniel held back the sigh that threatened to escape him.  
  
"I'm fine Teal'c, just a little busy, a little… distracted today."  
  
Steady brown eyes drilled into him for a moment longer then, with a slight bow of his head, the jaffa was gone.  
  
Now, hours later in the privacy of his apartment, he sat in the darkness watching the play of moonlight on the roofs opposite. The sky had cleared during the day making the night unseasonably cold, but he hadn't noticed. On the table sat all of Nick Ballard's journals, foremost the three books concerning the fateful trip to Belize. The trip that had ruined an eminent archaeologist's career and eventually saw him sign into a mental hospital because of his insistence that aliens existed. Of course he was now totally vindicated, not that he could tell the world. Still, Nick seemed deliriously content with his new occupation.  
  
When had he last been truly happy? Daniel let his head rest back against the couch his eyes closing against the darkness. Abydos' hot sun lit his memories, the sounds of a thriving community, the calls of the children. Warm winds brushed his cheek as he watched Sha're walk toward him, her wonderful smile and soft brown eyes resting on him alone. Even now his heart beat a little faster at the thought of her. He wanted to keep that image in his heart for all eternity, but that warm vibrant woman was gone forever leaving him empty in places that no other loss had touched. Squeezing his eyes tighter he tried to stop the well of tears that forced their way through his control, gasping his pain he turned his face into the soft material of his couch and gave in to the grief that seemed destined to live with him forever.  
  
The dream sped him from sleep a few hours later. Head aching, body cramped, he unwound himself from his uncomfortable place on the couch and stretched protesting muscles until he could feel the blood flow to his extremities. The temperature had dropped noticeably since he'd fallen asleep, enough to make him shiver in the darkness. Leaning behind him he lit the side lamp, wincing at its sudden glow, turning sharply away from the penetrating light. It had been one more variation on a theme, this dream that haunted him. Night after night he had found himself running to, or from, he could never decide which, some danger that threatened him and his companions. Every time he had been armed, sometimes with a zat, sometimes a pistol or machine gun, occasionally a staff weapon. And every time his dream ended with him having to use whatever weapon his subconscious had conjured up for him, and every time someone had died but he could never distinguish a face.  
  
Troubled eyes rested on his fingers as he turned them over in the subdued lighting. He had killed more times than he wanted to remember, sent to hell his enemies with a blast of his weapon. He knew it had been kill or be killed, he could rationalise it as much as he wanted, but still… It was strange how those hands that were once more used to the delicate flick of a soft brush uncovering broken pottery could also wield the weapon that sent a soul to eternal damnation. Where were the bloody stains that should be etched into his skin? Where was the regret in his heart that he had killed without thinking? But they were the enemy, right? They had stolen the thing he loved most in the entire world, subverted her, destroyed her, made her just an empty husk.  
  
But that didn't excuse what he had done to the Unas. Yes they were slaves, treated so badly that he had ached for them, but to give his weapon to Chakka, knowing full well that the creature's vengeance would probably wipe every human from the village! That had been so out of character that even Jack had eyed him askance, disbelief written in his eyes. Somewhere along the road he had lost himself, and with every mission, with every day that he hefted a gun in his hand instead of his notebook, was another day a part of his soul died. He didn't like what he had become; he didn't like it at all.  
  
Sleep held no enticement for him even though he felt wrung out, exhausted. Leaning forward he picked up one of Nick's diaries at random, opening up the pages with care. Ah, the dig in the foothills, the futile search for Imhotep's tomb. Daniel had been thirteen then, the foster parents who had him in care that month had shown him the brief letter his grandfather had sent, wishing 'the boy' well. The old man had rambled on about his finds; not that he had discovered the legendary tomb, but a less exalted individual. The pages had been covered with scribbles that Daniel could decipher as hieroglyphs even then. Egypt had effectively killed his parents, had taken his grandfather from him, and yet the young boy had yearned for the desert with a passion. Left to his own devices most of the time, he had thrown himself into research. He had a natural gift for languages that had him shooting through the school system, whichever one he was currently in. His thirst for knowledge singled him out from the crowd, made him the butt of many cruel jokes, and yet he shrugged them off, burying himself in the past, not interested in the present. The call of Egypt was still almost overwhelming, though he knew he would never get on a dig now, not after his absence and certainly not after his 'outrageous' declarations. Who would accept him?  
  
His eyes slid back to the three volumes that housed the Belize trip. Nick had been pretty thorough in his notes; both on the original trip and the ones he had made later, trying to rediscover the collapsed temple. What if… 


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2  
  
The general's door stood wide open and yet Daniel still hesitated at the doorway. Raising one hand he knocked lightly, not quite sure if what he was about to do was right or not.  
  
Hammond looked up from his paperwork and motioned Daniel inside. "Take a seat, Doctor Jackson, I'll be just one minute with this."  
  
Daniel sat with care, placing the folder neatly on his lap, eyes straying around the office. He'd never really looked before, but now he let his attention focus on the pictures on the wall, the commendations, and the memories that lived in those images. General Hammond had always been more than fair with him, he knew that the latitude this man gave his number one team was probably unprecedented in the military, but what he was about to ask for might strain even this man's tolerance. It wasn't as if he were about to ask for a few days, or even a week.  
  
Resisting the urge to stand Daniel rested his attention once more on the manila file that he had worked on from three that morning. He had gone over all of the proposed applicants for the post of translator come linguist come whatever the SGC might have in mind, and each had their merits and demerits. On the whole though, his bias leaned towards Janice Phillips. The last few articles she had published showed an openness of mind that was rare in the archaeological world, and it was something that would be high on the list of requirements for this post.  
  
"Doctor Jackson?"  
  
He looked up quickly, realising that the general had been speaking to him for some moments.  
  
"Right. Sorry." My god, was that all he could manage, yet another apology? "I've gone through the lists, here are my recommendations. I don't know any of them personally but they are all well respected in their fields. Whether any of them would fit in, I don't know. I presume none of them have been approached yet?"  
  
"Correct. I wanted your assessments first." Hammond was flicking through the notes Daniel had made when his attention returned to the man so obviously uncomfortable in front of him.  
  
"Is there a problem, Doctor Jackson? Something about these folks that I should know?"  
  
Daniel could resist the urge no longer and stood quickly, moving to close the General's door. Outside an airman looked up at the unusual sound before returning to his task. It wasn't often the Commander of the facility shut his door.  
  
Catching himself in the defensive act of wrapping his arms around his body, Daniel forced his hands into his pockets, fingers clenched into tight fists. He had thought long and hard about this request, knowing that it was the only answer to a rapidly increasing problem. He knew that if he asked, the general would have assigned him a therapist, but he also knew that that was not what he needed right now. How could he explain to anyone what he was feeling when he didn't really know himself? No, what he needed was time. Time to think through all that had been, all that might yet come, and how that related to Daniel Jackson the man, not Doctor Jackson, member of SG1.  
  
"Doctor?"  
  
"I want some time off, General. No, no, I need some time off. Things are just… I need a break from this." His head indicated the briefing room beyond, his face pale in the artificial lighting.  
  
"Doctor Jackson, I don't think we can spare you at the moment. SG1 is due out again on Saturday, the MALP indicates that this planet might have a technology on par with that of the Asgard. We need you on this mission."  
  
Daniel closed his eyes against the general's unwavering stare, unaware that the mental anguish he was suffering showed on his face for a brief, unguarded moment.  
  
"Take a seat, son."  
  
Startled blue eyes flew open at the appellation. Concern rested on the older man's face. This man looked out for all of the men and women under his command, but Daniel knew he took special pains when it came to SG1. The leeway he allowed them was borne out of respect for their abilities and the affection he held for them all. But he was military when all was said and done, could he understand the slow destruction of self that Daniel could feel seeping through every pore? Could he begin to comprehend how a one time passionate archaeologist felt at being turned into some kind of GI Joe? Would he even understand why the loss of wonder at new discoveries affected him so badly? To see a new language written for the first time should send a thrill through him as it did just a couple of years before, now it was just one more chore that he had to do, oh, and maybe he would have to kill the artisan who wrote it!  
  
"Daniel?"  
  
That too was a departure for the general. Reluctantly Daniel resumed his seat, dragging it forward until he could rest his hands on the desk. "General, I haven't had any time off in over a year. When the rest of SG1 took a break a few months back, I was here, translating, watching the pile get ever higher. I know you need my expertise when it comes to sorting artefacts, translating some languages, but not for everything I am given to do."  
  
"Such as?" General Hammond's voice was unaccustomedly gentle as he watched the expressive face of the younger man as he fought with his emotions eyes fixed on his clasped fingers.  
  
"Goa'uld for one. Sam and I have been working on a programme for the computer. Basically, everything I have ever translated has been downloaded into the base main frame; all it needs is some fine-tuning, Sam can handle that. Every language, spoken and written, that we have discovered is also now in the computer, it only needs a linguist to clarify the results, and that doesn't have to be me." Daniel raised his face slightly, looking up at the general. "General, I feel…I feel swamped right now, I need a break, time to rediscover who I am outside of this facility…" His voice trailed off, not sure if he had said too much, or not enough.  
  
"Where would you go, Doctor? Egypt is out of the question, you know how hard it was to get you in there last time."  
  
Daniel shook his head, relieved that his request was being given consideration, and a little taken aback that the general knew him well enough to leap at Egypt as a possible retreat.  
  
"I thought, Belize. Nick's lost temple is somewhere out there. It might be beneficial to have another route off the planet. Plus there may be more we could learn about his 'giant aliens', after all, they are not being all that forthcoming with information right now."  
  
"I see." Shrewd eyes fixed on Daniel with uncomfortable intensity. "And how long would you expect this trip to take, Doctor?"  
  
"A month, maybe two." Daniel tried to keep his voice neutral, but the hope that had suddenly sprung up within him coloured his words.  
  
"That's not practical, Doctor. We can't afford to lose your skills for that length of time. The SGC needs you here right now."  
  
With a sinking feeling of impending disaster, Daniel stood and turned from the apparently unsympathetic man behind the desk.  
  
"You don't understand, General. I have to get away, I must get away, and if you don't give me leave I'll have to resign."  
  
"I don't like threats, Doctor Jackson."  
  
Daniel lowered his head, closing his eyes against the possible reaction and spoke softly. "It's not a threat, General. There is no compromise I can make. If I can't get some time for myself, and soon, I'll be of no use to anyone."  
  
Quickly, before the general could react, Daniel twisted the door handle and flung himself out into the briefing room, clattered down the spiral stairs, and headed for his laboratory.  
  
General Hammond watched the retreating back disappear from view, heard the metallic clang of boots on the stairs, and leaned back in his chair astonished. A moment's reflection assured him that something more was going on than Doctor Jackson had implied.  
  
Picking up the internal phone, he barked out his order. "Get me Colonel O'Neill, now. I want him in my office stat!"  
  
***  
  
It was only a few minutes later that Jack O'Neill tapped on the General's door, one brow lifted in inquiry.  
  
"Come in, Colonel," the older man ordered with an edge to his voice that didn't escape Jack's notice.  
  
Ah, it was going to be one of *those* conversations, he mused. Quickly he scanned the team's most recent activities, none of which might account for the General's current demeanour.  
  
"Take a seat." Hammond waited until O'Neill had taken the seat that Daniel had so recently occupied. "I've just had Doctor Jackson in here with a rather unusual request. I want your thoughts on it."  
  
Now that was unusual, Daniel hardly ever went over Jack's head on anything, preferring to face any disagreement head on.  
  
"Doctor Jackson wants to take an extended leave of absence."  
  
Both Jack's brows raised in astonishment. There had been no hint of this, had there?  
  
The General's fingers tapped rhythmically against the manila folder under his hand on the desk. "He claims he is not required for a lot of the work he is being given to do. I think there is more than that going on, Colonel, and I need to know what it is. Someone with his inside knowledge of this facility can't be allowed to disappear when the mood takes him."  
  
O'Neill's face became perfectly neutral as he thought furiously over the last couple of weeks. Yes, Daniel had been a little inattentive, but heck, that was Daniel. If it wasn't hundreds of years old he wasn't interested in it, but maybe… There had, of course, been the late nights and early mornings, again not something too unusual for the driven archaeologist. Dark rings under blue eyes and a subtle weight loss had also hinted at something more than overwork. Damn, how had he missed this? If Daniel was that stressed that he wanted time out why hadn't he come to him? Oh yeah, right, Jack's inner demons taunted, like the two of you are the best of buddies right now. There had been an almost imperceptible drift between the two men for months ever since that whole NID thing. They treated each other with a little more caution than they had previously, and Jack had never queried why - until now.  
  
"You want me to talk to him, sir?"  
  
"I need to know if, should I agree to his request, Daniel Jackson will pose any kind of a security threat to this facility, Colonel. There is more at stake here than acceding to his demands. I want your recommendations as soon as possible. Call on Doctor Fraiser if you have to, or McKenzie, just tell me he's not in trouble here."  
  
Jack looked up quickly, catching the softening of the man's voice. Heck, everyone had a soft spot for Daniel, it was the nature of the beast to connect with the most unlikely of people, and Hammond was no more immune than the rest of the SGC it seemed.  
  
"I'll do what I can, sir."  
  
***  
  
Daniel sat at his desk, elbows propped against an open book, head resting in his hands. Only the reading light was on, leaving the room in shadows that suited his mood. He hadn't said enough to convince the general. He hadn't revealed enough of his inner unrest to warrant his leave, and above all else he had threatened to resign. Well, if that didn't get the men in white coats down here what the hell would?  
  
It took a moment or two to realise that he wasn't alone. Thanks to military efficiency the squeak from the hinges had been fixed some days ago and he had not heard the door being pushed open. It was the sudden play of light that alerted him to company. He raised his head slowly, eyes blinking at the glare from the hall.  
  
"Daniel."  
  
Jack, of course, and that tone of voice was way too familiar to him. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, replacing his glasses and focusing on the man standing silhouetted in the door.  
  
"You'd better come in. I take it General Hammond has talked to you?"  
  
O'Neill pushed the door too again, letting the lock click shut behind him. It had become an unwritten rule that you didn't disturb any of SG1 if their doors were closed, well mostly that is.  
  
"Yeah, we spoke. Hammond tells me you want some time off, an extended vacation. You know you could always borrow the cabin for a while. Fish as big as…" Jack's arms dropped from their exaggerated description of the fish to be found in the lake. "Okay, I know that's not your style, but why the sudden rush?"  
  
"It's not sudden, Jack."  
  
Daniel went back to contemplating the pages before him, not seeing the words written there.  
  
Jack hesitated for a moment. "Is it Sha're? Because you never did take time out, Daniel, you just kept on going as though work could heal you. It doesn't work that way, I should know."  
  
"No," Daniel said softly. "It's not Sha're. It still hurts but no that's not it." And suddenly he was on his feet, grabbing a video from the pile beside his screen. "Who am I, Jack? What am I?"  
  
The older man's confused eyes rested on his piercing blue. Then Jack shook his head slowly. "You're Daniel Jackson, archaeologist, linguist, member of my team and a friend."  
  
"Look at this, look a me on this footage."  
  
Jack turned puzzled eyes to the screen, watching a younger Daniel Jackson, long hair falling in his eyes as he worked to decipher a large stele covered in Goa'uld symbols. Then the linguist put in another tape, later in SG1's travels, but still Daniel was beavering away at some knotty problem, an almost obsessive light in his eyes as he sorted over artefacts from a civilisation believed to have descended from an ancient Minoan culture. On and on the clips went, with each one it seemed some of the enthusiasm that had personified that young Daniel was stripped away.  
  
"Do you see, Jack? Look at this one again. Here I didn't even know how to hold a gun, let alone use one. Yeah, funny I know," he said, catching Jack's unintentional grin.  
  
"But you know what? It isn't funny any more. I know how to use more weapons than the average enlisted man. I've killed more people than I want to remember. And you know what else, Jack? It doesn't hurt any more."  
  
"Daniel… Look, I admit it, it's not what you signed on for, but you've saved the rest of us countless times because you know how to use those same weapons. "  
  
"Damn it, Jack! What is it with you? Why can't you, just for once, stop being military and see it from my point of view? I don't want to spend the rest of my life running around with a gun in my hand. I don't want to walk onto a world that should be an historian's dream and fight my way to get off again. I want time to find out who I am now, and whether I can live with that."  
  
"You're still mad at me about shooting that damn robot aren't you? Look, I had to do it; those damn bugs were out of control! It was them or us."  
  
Daniel turned his back on the angry, pleading eyes of his friend. He did not want to remember that scene in the embarkation room. His fury with Jack then had been almost overwhelming. He had poured his heart into trying to earn Reese's trust, just a minute more and the replicators would have been gone, and no-one would have had to die, robot or not. The knowledge they had lost in that split second of Jack's uncontrolled fire was unfathomable. Reese, android creator of the replicators, could have held the key to freeing the Asgard from their nightmare enemy. Daniel felt the fury rise within him again, and gritted his teeth against the words that wanted to force their way past his tight pressed lips.  
  
"Look, Daniel…"  
  
Daniel's angry glance pierced Jack's armour, heading straight to that soft spot he carried for this intense young man.  
  
"Oh, for crying out loud! Daniel you have to talk about this. Hammond isn't going to let you just go tearing off into the wild blue yonder without a good reason." Jack stepped closer to Daniel, even as the linguist took a step back.  
  
"I think you'd better leave, Jack. Tell Hammond I need an answer by tomorrow." Then he turned his back on the astonished gaze and switched on his screen, reading intently from its flickering display.  
  
Behind Jack's retreating form his door closed with a decided thump. Military doors were not designed for slamming or his would have been taken off its hinges he was sure.  
  
Jack stood outside the closed door, fists punched into deep pockets, his eyes riveted to the floor as he struggled to bring his sudden surge of anger back under control. Teal'c's heavy footsteps only barely registered through the mist of his emotions.  
  
"O'Neill."  
  
The colonel's head came up, casting an unreadable look at the jaffa.  
  
"There is a problem with Daniel Jackson?" Though it was a question, the jaffa's voice sounded more like a statement.  
  
"Yeah," Jack sighed. "Yeah, there is."  
  
"I have noticed for some time now that all is not well."  
  
"You did?" Damn, where had his wits been these last few weeks?  
  
Teal'c inclined his head in acknowledgement. "I have seen this before in jaffa. Daniel Jackson is losing himself."  
  
Again, that implacable statement, and Teal'c was rarely wrong. O'Neill's face screwed into a grimace.  
  
"So, what's the cure then?" Jack asked, half fearing the answer.  
  
"In Jaffa an extended Kel no reem would be advised. I do not believe meditation would help Daniel Jackson however."  
  
Jack waited for a moment, then two, expecting the jaffa to continue. Finally, "Well? What do you suggest then?"  
  
"I do not know."  
  
"Oh you're a great help!" Hands tossed up in disbelief, the colonel strode down the corridor and headed for Sam's laboratory.  
  
***  
  
The stars were particularly bright in the cool night air. Each tiny pinprick of light seemed to glisten and twinkle just for him. Daniel's breath steamed into the darkness as he sighed. Behind him the lights of Cheyenne Mountain blazed like a beacon, but here, off of the well-lit road, trees shadowed the area in blissful darkness. He didn't turn when he heard the soft sound of footfalls behind him, he knew who it would be.  
  
"Hey there. Thought you might need this." Sam pressed a Styrofoam cup of steaming coffee into his half numb hands.  
  
"Thanks." Gratefully he wrapped his chilled fingers around the plastic, letting the heat warm him. He took a sip, then two, feeling it track through his system, the caffeine kicking in a moment later.  
  
Sam stood beside him, the silence resting easily between them. There had been many times over the last few years when the two of them had stood like this, speaking without saying a word, understanding without intruding. The trust between them went deeper than friendship. They had relied on one another countless times, knowing that any member of the team would gladly sacrifice themselves for the others. That tight bond held them together, but it could not bridge every chasm. Still, Daniel took comfort from the knowledge that Sam had sought him out, was ready to stand out in the damp night air just to keep him company.  
  
"I guess Jack has been talking then?" Daniel murmured around his coffee cup.  
  
"Yup."  
  
His eyes sought hers in the shadows. "What do you think, am I ready for the funny farm yet? McKenzie preparing the padded room for me again?"  
  
She moved a little closer, sharing her body warmth with him where her shoulder rested against his. "I don't think you need that kind of help, Daniel. You do need to talk though. It doesn't matter who to, just let someone help you."  
  
"Yeah, well that is something the military does so well, right! Listening is right up there with how to tie your boots and how to destroy the enemy." His eyes locked onto the distant stars again; his mouth set in a grim line. "Jack tried to listen but he doesn't hear what I'm saying. I don't think he can ever understand what I am feeling right now."  
  
"Is there anything I can do? You know I am here if you want to talk, about anything, anything at all."  
  
He shot her a grateful look, eyes softening as they met her concerned gaze. "I know you are, but the only one I need to talk to right now is me, and I can't do that here. I need space, Sam. I need time to think with no deadline hanging over my head. I want to get my hands dirty again, touch history; feel it in my heart once more…" his voice trailed off into the dark night.  
  
Two pairs of blue eyes contemplated the night sky for a moment longer, then, as though an unspoken communication had passed between them, they headed back to the facility together.  
  
***  
  
Sam, Jack and Teal'c sat in the general's office the next morning. Serious faces returned Hammond's equally concerned gaze. The atmosphere in the room was heavy, uncomfortable.  
  
"You are sure that Doctor Jackson's request is valid?"  
  
"General, if we don't let Daniel have some time I think things could get a whole lot worse. And it's not as if he's going somewhere where the NID could grab him. He wants to bury himself in the jungle of all places."  
  
"I have to agree with the colonel, sir," Sam added. "I don't believe Daniel is any danger to himself or anyone else right now. But, with all that has happened these last few months, he needs time to come to terms with what he had been forced to do. I think we all forget he's not military sometimes. He doesn't think the same way the airforce expects us to."  
  
"Daniel Jackson was not born a warrior," Teal'c added.  
  
General Hammond's gaze rested on each of his number one team's serious faces. He knew that SG1 would protect their team mate as best they could, and that he had to heed their warnings. His instinct told him this might not end the way they all hoped, but he had given them his trust time and again - he wouldn't withhold it now.  
  
"Very well. If Doctor Fraiser clears him, I'll grant his request. Dismissed."  
  
The trio filed out quietly, as though a part of them was already missing.  
  
***  
  
Saturday came around; Daniel had already left the facility and was on a plane to Central America as SG1 returned from their mission. Each one of them had, at some point during their mission, turned to talk to Daniel, expecting him to be right beside them. Each now carried his image like a ghost at their side, feeling somehow lessened by his absence.  
  
Janet, doing the post mission checks, noted their lethargy with concern. It was almost as though they were in mourning. Maybe if she had been witness to the final meetings between the group she would have understood better.  
  
Daniel had been searching through his room. He knew that somewhere in this organised chaos lay the small box of instruments that his parents had bequeathed to him. The fine brushes and delicate probes had travelled to every dig that he had participated in. To go now without them would be wrong. He didn't really think of them as a talisman, more a link to his past life, a life he wanted back.  
  
"Daniel Jackson." Teal'c's voice startled him.  
  
"Hey, Teal'c."  
  
"I believe it is an Earth custom to bring a gift to someone who is travelling far." One giant hand held out a small highly polished and intricately carved stone.  
  
Daniel took it carefully, letting his fingers skim over the delicate design. "Ah, no. Actually it's me that's supposed to bring you something back."  
  
Teal'c watched the archaeologist intently for a moment, forcing more words from him. "Thank you, for this. I haven't seen anything like it before. The carving looks almost Egyptian, what are the symbols meant to represent?"  
  
"I do not know. My father gave it to me when I was chosen."  
  
Daniel's eyes lifted quickly to the jaffa's serene face. "I can't take this from you, Teal'c. It's too precious a gift."  
  
"I have used it as a guide to peace when anger threatens. Its complicated pattern brings my thoughts back from the wrong path." Unfathomable dark eyes rested intently on Daniel's wide blue. "Perhaps it will guide you as well Daniel Jackson."  
  
Daniel felt his guts tighten as he fought to hold down his emotions. Teal'c cared enough about him to give such a gift? His eyes dropped to the stone, and the impossibly complex design.  
  
"Thank you," he said quietly.  
  
A few minutes after Teal'c had left, Jack joined him. He came bearing coffee, an excuse to visit one more time before Daniel left the mountain.  
  
"You packed yet?"  
  
"Almost," Daniel replied, eyes scanning the shelves, searching for the small box.  
  
"Janet finished with you then?"  
  
Spotting it buried under a pile of books, Daniel's answer was muffled as he removed the box from its hiding place.  
  
"Right. So, you're packed then."  
  
"Yes, Jack, I'm packed. Was there something else you needed to know?"  
  
Jack's hand fiddled with a stone-handled dagger that lay on top of a pile of notes, turning it round with his fingers.  
  
"Ah, Jack, that blade is tipped with poison, you might want to put it down."  
  
"Damn. Why don't you label these things!"  
  
"I do." Daniel picked up the artefact, turning it over so that the handle revealed a red sticker.  
  
Silence lay between them. Finally Jack cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Daniel, you coming back?"  
  
Daniel's eyes drifted away from contemplation of the dagger, and for a moment he couldn't answer.  
  
"I don't know," he said softly.  
  
Sam caught up with him in the elevator as he left that night. Her tight hug and whispered, 'take care of yourself' had in some ways been the hardest meeting of the day, though it had been the briefest. He had a feeling that the SGC thought him lost already. He slung his pack into the back of his car, checked his rear view mirror for one last look at the facility, then put his foot to the floor and gunned the vehicle out of the car park. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3  
  
The hotel lounge was cramped by American standards, but the tables outside on the veranda afforded a scenic view of the coast and a hint of trees in the distance. From all around him came the lilting sound of Spanish being spoken, and occasionally an almost understandable Mayan dialect that tickled his linguistic senses. The moment Daniel had stepped out of the airport he had breathed easier. For some reason he had felt that at any moment, he could be recalled. Hammond would change his mind, Carter would corner him one last time, or Teal'c would follow him with those intense eyes. As for Jack, well, things would need to be patched up between them when he returned. He hadn't meant to be so abrupt with the older man. Their friendship was something that he valued highly, but there were times when Jack just annoyed the hell out of him. He had, right up until the last minute, tried to talk Daniel out of going on the trip. No reasons given, just that blank look that the colonel could assume at will, and the request that Daniel stay.  
  
"Could I get some more coffee, please?" His accent, slightly out of kilter with the natives, was still perfectly understandable. It had been a long time since he had studied the language, and yet sitting here, listening to the varied dialects, he felt it soaking back into him like rain on fertile soil. Behind him, at reception, he could hear the soft murmur of voices. Hearing his own name mentioned he turned. The receptionist was still pointing in his direction as he looked. Then, weaving her way between the overstuffed chairs and death trap side tables strode a woman who exuded youth. The slim, athletic legs were hardly hidden by a short summer dress that highlighted her curvaceous figure. It wasn't until she was almost at his table that he realised she was not as young as he first thought.  
  
He sprang to his feet as she made a beeline for him, hand outstretched. "Doctor Jackson?" Her voice was soft with the musical lilt of her native tongue.  
  
"Daniel Jackson, yes, that's me…" His voice trailed off into a question, eyebrows raised.  
  
"I'm Victoria Ramirez." She waited a second. "You requested me as your guide."  
  
"I thought…um, look, take a seat for a moment. Would you like coffee or something?"  
  
"No, thank you. Is something wrong, Doctor Jackson?"  
  
Where to start? This vision with the sun-kissed honey coloured hair and sparkling hazel eyes was not what he had expected. On going through Nick's books his grandfather had been full of his guide, one Vick Ramirez. Younger than himself, still Nick had trusted the man implicitly. The terrain had been well away from the few temples and tourist areas, and yet Vick had been more than competent. The two of them had returned and searched during each dry season for years to find Nick's lost temple, and though the older man's notes had been copious they had been unsuccessful.  
  
Daniel explained what had happened."… and so you see I am not sure if you can help or not. I really need Vick, or someone with whom he may have shared that journeys details."  
  
Victoria crossed her legs and sat back in the wicker chair, her eyes half closed as she contemplated the man seated opposite her.  
  
"I was named for my grandfather, Doctor Jackson."  
  
"Call me Daniel," he murmured.  
  
"My grandfather was one of the best guides in the whole region. Anywhere you wanted to go, he could take you. And as I got older, I would travel with him and my father. There is little of the jungle that I do not know, Doctor Jackson. My grandfather also kept journals that he bequeathed to my father; I will look back through them to see if he kept notes of Nick Ballard. I am sure I have heard his name before."  
  
There was a small frown between her brows, then it suddenly cleared. "Nicholas Ballard, yes? Aliens from space?" There was a smile now hovering on her softly tanned face.  
  
Daniel grimaced. "Yeah, that's the one. Look, whatever he found out there was unique. I'd like to retrace his steps if I can, see where he was and perhaps find the rest of the remains."  
  
"You realise that the jungle claims these fallen temples in a matter of years? Your grandfather and mine explored this site two decades ago, there may be little left to find."  
  
Daniel shrugged, "I know, but I'd like to try. The Mayan culture was my grandfather's speciality, not mine, but I've studied it and read his journals. I hope between us we can uncover a new truth."  
  
One well-defined finger pointed at him as her expression mirrored suddenly recalled memories. "Doctor Daniel Jackson. Washington lectures about five or six years ago. I remember you now. Egypt was your interest, though, and if I remember correctly, you also believed in aliens."  
  
Ah shit, he thought. He had hoped that here at least his ill-fated past wouldn't catch up with him. "Yeah, well that was a long time ago. Things have changed for me since then. Look, if you think you can take me on the same trail, then that's fine by me."  
  
She nodded, "Your money is as good as anyone's, Doctor Jackson. Give me till the morning to look back over my grandfather's notes then we can start off first thing tomorrow. Pack light, we will have to carry our rations with us, unless you want to hire porters or pack animals?"  
  
"I'll be guided by you," he smiled, standing and taking her outstretched hand in his. Maybe this would work out after all.  
  
"You had all your shots? You have your malaria tablets with you? I don't want a sick archaeologist on my hands half way up a mountain."  
  
It suddenly seemed eminently funny to Daniel that someone outside of the SGC was monitoring him. He had become so used to Jack surreptitiously checking his backpack over to see that he had packed what the military considered essential, and Janet making sure he had his antihistamines with him, that it hardly seemed possible he could set off on this journey without someone doing a checklist.  
  
Unaccustomed laughter lit his voice as he replied, "Yes, mother. And I have clean underwear just in case… Ah, sorry, that wasn't really appropriate was it?"  
  
Victoria's eyes were stern as they raked his face. "The jungle is no laughing matter, Doctor Jackson. I'm not hired out as a nursemaid, I'm your guide. I'll get you there and back, and in one piece, but I expect you to take basic precautions. I'll see you first thing in the morning, Doctor."  
  
"Call me Daniel," he said plaintively to her retreating back.  
  
***  
  
The path ahead of him was dark and foreboding, behind him lay some nameless terror. In his hand a P90 rested heavily against his chest, the strap around his shoulder digging in deeply. Something was coming up behind him. He began to run toward the darkness ahead calling for the rest of the team, footsteps echoing all around, and then something touched him. He turned, finger squeezing the trigger just the way Jack had shown him. Screams thundered in his head, rattling around his skull until he thought his ears would bleed. Blood spattered across his face, blinding him and he thought he heard the faint sound of a familiar voice crying out for mercy.  
  
Swearing long and hard, Daniel untangled his sweat soaked body from the sheets, and sat on the edge of the hotel bed. It was still early yet, not five o'clock. Picking up the robe his room had come with he wrapped it around his now shivering body. You would think a five star hotel could ensure a demon free night.  
  
The balcony faced the sea, and in the distance he could hear the soft swoosh of water against sand. On the horizon, a faint glow heralded the day. Why now, and why tonight? Ever since General Hammond had agreed to his leave, the nightmares had taken a back seat. Yes, he had had some mild attacks, but nothing like the panic that had forced him awake tonight. 'God, I hope I don't talk in my sleep' he muttered to the view.  
  
The shivers had calmed now, the warmth of his robe and the wakening of his brain combining to push back the night terrors. Maybe he should have talked to Janet after all. Well, it was too late now.  
  
Daniel used the extra time to sort out his backpack. Years of digs in out of the way places meant he could pack an awful lot of stuff into a very small space. The first time Jack had checked over his pack the older man had been surprised, first by what Daniel had considered essential, and secondly at how he had crammed it all in. 'Archaeology doesn't happen in cities very often' he had explained; you learned to pack the hard way. So, spare lightweight trousers, socks, shirts and underwear were rolled tightly and stuffed into the large haversack. A fleece scrunched down the other side, and then his box of tools was perched on top. The box had been part of his parents travelling gear, consisting of tiny chisel, hammer, scrapers and brushes. They had gone with him on every dig, the box small enough to slip into a wide pocket, or the flowing robes of Abydos. The bumping of that small wooden box against his leg had somehow kept him grounded when he stumbled back through the gate that first time. He checked the catch once more, then tucked it under the clothing and tightened the straps.  
  
From the SGC he had borrowed the heavy-duty footwear that was standard issue, his own lightweight boots from his Egyptian digs would not stand up to the rigours of a jungle trek. Finally he slipped the slender volumes of Nick's notes into various pockets of his jacket for reference.  
  
Promptly at eight, Victoria Ramirez entered the lobby. That morning she seemed somehow smaller. Gone were the high-heeled sandals, her long legs hidden under lightweight trousers tucked into sturdy boots. Yesterday's mane of uncontrolled hair was now cinched back into a severe ponytail that highlighted her high cheekbones and almond shaped eyes. Without her make up she seemed younger still and doubt gripped him. She stood a good six inches shorter than he; something her heels had diminished the afternoon before. For all her petiteness and apparent fragility, she grabbed his bag quickly, carrying it out to the four-wheel drive with ease.  
  
As they sped down one of the few paved roads in the country, his guide spoke of her grandfather's journals. It appeared that he had been gripped by Nick's assertions that he had seen aliens. He hadn't believed that the old man had seen beings from another planet though, but the spirits of their ancestors of old.  
  
"Vick and your grandfather quartered the area over six years, Doctor Jackson. Each season they came back with nothing but disappointment. What makes you think we are going to do any better?"  
  
"I don't know that we will, but that isn't going to stop me trying. Aren't you at all fascinated by what they discovered?"  
  
"You mean the crystal skull? There have been many found, Doctor Jackson, what makes this one so special?"  
  
They had arrived at the supply depot, their last stop before heading into the green jungle that edged close to the suddenly non-existent road. Daniel used the movement from car to road to avoid answering the question. Victoria had slid out of her seat to negotiate with the vendor. He listened closely to the dialect she used, Cholti maybe? Her words too rapid for him to follow. He would have to ask her to teach him the basics. Many of the written artefacts he had studied years ago had used Cholti as their basis, though the stylised and convoluted system the Maya used was only just being understood.  
  
"Right, I have hired two porters to bring supplies to our base camp, they will return in two weeks time to supplement our rations. It should only take two days to reach the area our grandfathers explored."  
  
Two sturdy looking men of indeterminate age had joined them in the roadway. On their backs were huge packs, two more lay at their feet. Vicky made a grab for one of them and Daniel went quickly to help her fix it to her back, then she unloaded her own small pack from the car, attaching it to the straps that criss-crossed her front. Daniel did the same, the weight almost pulling him over until he found the right balance. Years of trekking across alien soil had hardened his body and toned muscles that had been unnecessary during his former years. He shrugged the packs into position, settling them against his body. Looking up, he caught the intense hazel gaze of his companion, she nodded slightly, as though in approval and surprise.  
  
Vicky set off at a tidy pace; small though she was, she strode out ahead of the small group with assurance and a seemingly endless energy. Behind them, the two porters kept up with difficulty. The pace she set precluded talk, all his oxygen being required to keep his heart pumping enough to maintain putting one foot in front of the other. Her words as they started the trek seemed to echo around in his head as he scanned the path to either side of them.  
  
"When you have to divert from the tracks, for whatever reason, keep your eyes open. Most of the insects and small predators will run from us, others won't. There are snakes and spiders out there that you don't want to mess with, so be careful."  
  
"Spiders?" Daniel had asked. He didn't like spiders.  
  
"Biggest you'll see out here are the tarantulas, about the size of a rat. If you don't disturb them they won't bother you."  
  
"Oh. Well, that's comforting, I guess," he had murmured, thankful that he had tucked his trousers into the tops of his heavy-duty boots.  
  
With an hour of daylight left they set up camp in what looked like the remains of a small shrine. Only a few tumbled blocks remained, the carvings barely legible in the gathering gloom, but Daniel felt drawn to them. He was determined to look them over before they left in the morning. Vicky had vocalised no interest in them and yet he sensed she knew something about the shrine that she was not telling him.  
  
The meal that night was basic, but no worse than he had endured on endless missions. The two porters had removed themselves to their own little camp some hundred yards away, both men had seemed uncomfortable with the area Vicky had chosen.  
  
"You've been to this place before?" Daniel questioned from his seat opposite her across the fire. "The porters seem a little uncomfortable here."  
  
Hazel eyes met his with something like defiance. "Superstition runs rife in my country, Doctor Jackson. This shrine was once used by my ancestors to honour the gods."  
  
"You're saying they made human sacrifices here?" He could understand the unease that would arise among the natives if that were the legend. "How do you know that?"  
  
"Not human sacrifices. Not here at least. It was maybe ten years ago that this place was finally given over to the jungle."  
  
"All this destruction in one decade?" Daniel's voice seemed hushed in the night air. Green had claimed the ashen coloured stones, burying them under an almost impenetrable layer of creepers and debris.  
  
Vicky shrugged, "The jungle wipes clean the mistakes of the past. Another ten years and this place will not remain."  
  
"You think the temple we are searching for is lost, don't you?"  
  
"Perhaps," his guide said quietly.  
  
Daylight woke him early, but still he was last to rise. Thankful that the dreams had not appeared during the night, Daniel felt rested and relaxed in a way that had eluded him for the last few weeks. Even with the hard ground under his now aching back, he felt better than he had done for the past month.  
  
He rolled over, sitting up and stretching to the sound of voices murmuring close by. Metal against metal clanged behind him as breakfast was being prepared. He surged to his feet and stepped away from the camp, Vicky's warning making his every move a cautious one. Call of nature or not, he was not going to expose any part of himself to the unknown until he had thoroughly checked out the deep green foliage. Under his feet something scuttled away into the darkness and he felt his flesh crawl at the image of rat-sized spiders lurking in the undergrowth.  
  
An hour later they were on their way. Vicky had vetoed the idea of spending time investigating the ruins, arguing that there were more interesting sites along the way if he wanted to waste time on places that had already been excavated. With a long look he turned and followed her further into the depths of the jungle, noting the increasing angle under his feet as they began the slow climb into the foothills. All along their route tempting edifices beckoned to him from either side. At each half-begun entreaty Vicky had shaken her head and moved them on, harder and faster. By half way through the day, Daniel had become aware of the unease of the porters. When they broke for lunch he tackled Vicky about the wary looks and whispered confidences that he could sense behind him. She shrugged, made a dismissive gesture and picked up her pack to continue on.  
  
That afternoon a chill wind blew down the path from above, and with it came the soft sound of leaves rattling against one another, almost sounding like whispers on the breeze. Daniel was lost in thought, not taking note of anything except to put one foot in front of the other until he heard the clatter of packs being dropped and footsteps fading into the distance behind him. His head shot up and around in time to see the backs of the two porters disappearing back down the trail they had made that day.  
  
"What the?!" He turned his attention to Vicky, who stood rigid with anger.  
  
"Superstitious imbeciles," she hissed under her breath, then turned her attention to her patron who was standing looking with some confusion at the woman in front of him.  
  
"What was that about what superstition? I think it's about time you and I had a little chat, don't you?"  
  
"Follow me," Vicky replied, hauling up the extra packs. "I'll show you."  
  
Daniel moved up beside her, forcibly removing the heavier pack from where she had slung it over her shoulder, and garnering a dark look for his pains.  
  
Five minutes of tense silence later and the two stopped in front of a clearing that encompassed the impressive remains of a large temple. Daniel's packs were quickly shed as he moved forward eagerly to touch the stones. His fingers ran lightly over the worn surfaces, tracing the deeply indented pictograms. Under his light caress he could almost feel the life within the carvings. He drew a deep breath and let his heart sing with the knowledge that this could still move him.  
  
"My god, look at this! It's bigger than the relief at Palenque. I thought all the major sites were documented but I haven't seen this in any journal. Even the colours are almost visible." His eyes scanned the huge façade, picking out the coloured corners indicating the four compass points. Only the black for west remained in full, the softer colours, white, yellow and red had dulled to barely perceptible ghostings. His gaze came to rest on the almost invisible blue green circle at the centre of the carving then he was moving further along the wall, following it round to the inner portion. Vicky, the porters, the SGC, all was banished from his mind at that moment as history took him in its embrace and welcomed him home. The moment he had been dreading, coming face to face with the past and finding it held no allure, had been passed and forgotten the moment he had set eyes on the relief.  
  
Finally finishing his superficial search of the temple ruins Daniel, his head still reeling with the images he had seen, came back to where his guide stood waiting. Her face was inscrutable, as though he had somehow surprised and puzzled her all at once. Checking his racing enthusiasm, he raised his eyebrows in question.  
  
Nodding, Vicky motioned him to sit while they talked.  
  
"These remains are not widely known, Doctor Jackson, and those of us who do know of its location will keep it secret. It is not a good place."  
  
"The porters, they knew of the temple before we set out?"  
  
"No," Vicky's ponytail flicked lightly as she shook her head. "If I had told them that we had to pass this place I wouldn't have found anyone to come with us. My people, Doctor Jackson, are more aware of the past than westerners give us credit for."  
  
Leaning forward, elbows resting on his knees as he sat cross-legged, Daniel indicated his interest.  
  
Hazel eyes contemplated slim fingers, as Vicky seemed to muse over what to say and what to hold back.  
  
"Don't judge my openness to the unknown, Vicky. I can believe all kinds of things. Remember you are talking to the man who proposed the pyramids were built by aliens." He hesitated for a moment, then added with a wry smile, "But don't let that put you off either."  
  
"You're a strange man, Doctor Jackson."  
  
"Daniel," he encouraged for the millionth time, his response to the title almost Pavlovian now.  
  
Her eyes were on his, searching for something that he could only hope she would find. And then she was leaning forward too, unconsciously mimicking his pose.  
  
"Do you believe in ghosts?" she asked, then continued, not waiting for his answer. "The Maya hold to the belief that our ancestors are with us every day, influencing our lives for good or bad. This place… this place holds many memories." Her voice had softened to a mere whisper as her eyes moved from carving to carving.  
  
"But you are not afraid of this place… are you?"  
  
"I hadn't intended for us to be here at night," she replied. "We should have passed by this place and been at our base camp, now we have to stay here." Her answer no answer at all to his question. Then she was on her feet, and heading purposefully into the very centre of the ruins.  
  
Daniel scrambled to his feet and moved to her side. The central steps had been all but destroyed; their blocks scattered around the area as though struck down from above. One large block, tumbled to its side, still made its presence felt by its sheer size alone.  
  
"Touch it," Vicky demanded, quietly.  
  
With a confused look, Daniel moved closer, his hand reaching out to the stone block. As his fingers came to rest on its rough surface a tingle of awareness seemed to skitter across his nerves. A shiver passed through him, a wave of revulsion that started in his stomach and threatened his control. He snatched back his hand and turned to where Vicky watched him. Had he really felt that or was it some kind of autosuggestion at work?  
  
"You asked about human sacrifices, Doctor Jackson. That," she pointed to the stone, "is the legacy my forefathers left us."  
  
His eyes scoured the stone again in more detail. Walking around it, the dying sunlight seemed to highlight the deep grooves in the far side and an oval depression at the top. Channels for the blood of the Mayan victims? Was it his imagination or were there still stains on the uneven surface?  
  
The temple was in remarkable condition; creepers had barely stolen over a quarter of the standing stones, and nothing within the central plaza was damaged except for the edifice where this huge stone would have sat.  
  
"Do you know what destroyed this?" Daniel queried, now making his way through the scattered blocks that had once raised high into the sky.  
  
Vicky's quiet reply almost passed him by. "Legend has it that the Gods took exception to our ancestor's lack of fealty. That they were unhappy with the sacrifices being made and decided to make an example of this tribe, so that all others would know how powerful their gods were, and how much they were to be feared."  
  
The light was beginning to fade now, and a chill wind rustled the surrounding trees. A bright flash of colour soared past the clearing, catching Daniel's eye. He hadn't expected parrots here, and, now that he thought about it, that was the first sign of jungle life that he had spotted since their arrival at this temple. Quiet settled around them, not even the rustle of an insect disturbed the total silence.  
  
Vicky moved to her pack and took out a sweater. The nights could get chilly even in the dry season, and the altitude added to the cold. "We don't have time to go any further tonight; I suggest we set up camp."  
  
Daniel didn't miss the slight hint of defiance in her voice. She was not okay with being within the temple walls, for all her bravado.  
  
"Here?"  
  
"Why not? There is a stream about half a kilometre up the trail, I'll fetch some clean water and we can renew the packs tomorrow when we move on."  
  
He turned to look at the huge walls around him, the strange depictions disappearing into the shadows, and knew that he didn't want to go any further. Not until he had had time to document at least some of this massive find. Nick's fallen temple could wait a few more days. It probably wouldn't be possible to excavate it anyway.  
  
It took them very little time to set up camp. Daniel had followed Vicky up to the stream, so that he could find it for himself later. The water was fresh and clean, bitterly cold on his sensitive teeth.  
  
After they had eaten they exchanged notebooks. Vicky had thought to bring her grandfather's notes with her, and Daniel had secreted Nick's in his pockets. Firelight made a poor reading lamp, but the text gripped him as he translated from the Spanish it had been written in.  
  
An hour later, each had finished the first of their respective grandparent's journals.  
  
The leather bound diary of Victor Ramirez sat heavily in Daniel's hands. "Well that was interesting. Were they even on the same expedition?"  
  
Vicky looked up from Nick's journal, her face picturing her puzzlement. "I don't understand it. Vick doesn't even mention this temple," she indicated their surroundings. "Neither does Nick Ballard. There is no other way to reach the area they both agree is where the temple you seek was located. And Nick doesn't mention any of the landmarks that Vick reported. This stele that he mentions finding in the first week, that is miles away from this area."  
  
"And your grandfather doesn't even note it. What were they trying to hide?" Daniel's puzzlement had only grown as he read Vick's notebook. He had committed to memory the directions within Nick's journals, but they did not tally with anything that Victor had written down. One of the old men was lying, but whom? Nick was a million light years away and inaccessible and Vick was dead.  
  
"What do we do now?" Vicky's question dragged him back to the fire-lit campsite. "Which trail do we follow?"  
  
"I wish I knew."  
  
Neither slept well that night. Daniel, tossing and turning, woke at least a dozen times during that uncomfortable darkness. Each time he opened his eyes, he was aware of Vicky's equally restless slumber. A couple of times he thought he caught a murmured cry from her; perhaps she too suffered from the unpleasant atmosphere that lived within these ancient walls. He knew that his own dreams were full of the sounds of terrified screams as one victim after another was bent backward over the sacrificial stone, while their beating heart was pulled from their chest. He wasn't sure it was a more agreeable substitute for the nightmares that had brought him here in the first place. For once he damned his too detailed knowledge of an ancient belief system.  
  
Daylight brought some relief from the oppressive atmosphere. Tiredness hung around them both as they made coffee and a small breakfast. Silence continued between them until Daniel, sufficiently stoked with caffeine, made his way back to the wall that had fascinated him the day before.  
  
"It's the story of the Hero Twin's journey to Xibalba, the trials they suffered and their eventual death."  
  
Daniel hadn't heard Vicky come up behind him. He was focussed entirely on the pictograms etched deeply into the stones. His knowledge of the Mayan culture was he admitted freely, limited. But the story of Lady Blood's sons, Hunahpu and Xbalanque, was well known to him. He followed her fingers as she pointed out the story progression, her understanding of the glyphs a delight. It had been so long since he had been able to share a find with anyone who understood his specialised subject. They moved on to another panel, this one seemed to list a huge amount of Mayan deities. Itzamna, Ahaw K'in, K'awil, Ek' Chuah, Chak Chel, she knew them all, some of them he had not been aware of.  
  
"You've studied this relief before?"  
  
His guide turned away from the wall and looked out into the barely penetrable jungle. "No. This is the first time I have stopped at this temple. But there are many just like it, scattered throughout the jungle, Doctor Jackson."  
  
"I doubt quite like this one," Daniel replied as his eyes caught an almost concealed glyph. Pulling away the tangled creepers from around the base of the wall, he revealed a stone that was totally different to any other he had yet seen. The plain block had a strange pinkish hue that tickled his memories, and carved lightly on its surface was a glyph that seemed almost familiar to him, yet he was sure he had not seen it before. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
The argument had lasted over half an hour. Vicky's raised tone had echoed around the temple, a counterpoint to Daniel's more reasonable timbre. Her eyes had flashed angrily at him time and again. He knew she was uncomfortable in this location, though she wouldn't say why, but he had to stay. There was a mystery here that demanded his attention, and he would remain, alone if necessary. It was that final threat that had ended the row.  
  
"You can't. You don't understand the jungle, you don't know your way back, they would find your corpse buried under the creepers within a month!"  
  
"Look, Vicky," he began reasonably, "believe it or not I can take care of myself. I've been on digs far worse than this, I've made it through sand storms, hurricanes, and things you just couldn't imagine."  
  
"We made a bargain, Doctor Jackson. If you stay, then I'll stay." She turned on her heel and marched away from him, her back telling him all that he needed to know about her anger.  
  
"Thanks!" he called after her. He hadn't missed the sudden bleak look that had flitted across her face, nor the way her shoulders had pulled back as though to stiffen her resolve. Something about this place disturbed Vicky greatly, something that she was unwilling to give voice to. Daniel turned to the wall, then back to Vicky's still visible back, torn between two mysteries. Archaeology won out.  
  
For the next hour he crawled along the edge of the massive fortification. Nearly all the outer wall was intact. Though some had fallen and been claimed by the jungle, a lot of the reliefs still existed. And, at regular intervals along each wall, there were blocks almost identical to the one they had found through the Stargate. He paced back around the perimeter, one block every fifty paces. As he stared at the designs Vicky called out a discovery.  
  
"Doctor Jackson, there is a design on this altar." She had dug a little way around the block where the stone had burrowed into the ground. There, below the runnels, was a carved letter or design that had all her attention.  
  
She had been avoiding him since the argument earlier, and he had not shown her the designs he had found on the half-buried blocks. Now he grabbed her hand and dragged her over to the wall.  
  
"Like these?" he asked excitedly.  
  
"Yes. What are they, Doctor Jackson? I've not seen this on any ruin in this jungle, though there is something vaguely familiar about them."  
  
"I know. They have a lot of the characteristics of Egyptian script. See this one? It's almost, but not quite, the word for delight. And this other," he dragged her further along the wall where the next block seemed to hold a similar design, "this is so tantalisingly close to 'Ma'at' that it has to be related somehow."  
  
Daniel had not realised he still held Vicky's hand, and was surprised when she unntangled herself from his grip. "Sorry," he apologised quickly, but then his attention was drawn back to the designs.  
  
"You're right. And this one," now it was Vicky's turn to point out the strange symbols. "This one is death, am I right, Doctor…"  
  
"Daniel, please. And yes, you are right. You read Egyptian?"  
  
"I studied, for a while."  
  
Reluctance edged every line of her body, barriers slammed down between them. Daniel backed off, knowing that this was not the right time to inquire into her background. But she was definitely a mystery he wanted to get to the bottom of.  
  
The day passed rapidly and way too soon for his liking Daniel had to abandon his task of ripping the tenacious creepers from the walls. Now and then, as he worked, a slight chill would whisper through the ruins and the strange runes would seem to echo that coldness for a fraction of a second. Each time he just missed touching the chilled stone. It frustrated him, but sent a thrill through him as well. Vicky had said she felt the phenomenon was something almost other worldly. And she could be right, he had thought to himself. And yet he had no inclination to get in touch with the SGC, at least not until he could prove that this would be of interest to them. After all, it could just be their heightened imagination. This place certainly seemed to affect both their moods and perceptions.  
  
It was an excuse, and he knew it. The block sitting in Sam's lab could have been the twin of this one, apart from the design etched into its sides. The dimensions were the same, the colour was the same, but he couldn't face his friends just yet. Not yet.  
  
By the end of the day, Daniel, with Vicky's help, had pulled the creepers away from about one hundred feet of the wall. Once he had spotted the first, the rest were easy to find, but it was not in him to miss any part of the wall. So, with an aching back from his crouched position, he stood and surveyed his handiwork. Not displeased with his progress, he picked up Nick's journal and used the remains of the daylight to sketch the glyphs he had uncovered so far. Thankfully Nick's last few pages were unused, as though waiting for this moment.  
  
As darkness fell, the chill of night combined with the tense atmosphere of the temple and drew the two companions closer to the fire. Even with his fleece and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, Daniel still felt cold. Temperatures dropped by maybe ten degrees at night; but this bone numbing cold was unusual. And it seemed limited to the confines of the ruins. He had made a trip up to the stream shortly before nightfall and had noticed a sudden rise in the temperature as he stepped onto the trail they had made that morning. It was one more mystery to add to the others swirling in his mind. With the crackle of the fire in their ears, the two weary explorers turned in for the night.  
  
Stygian gloom lay all around them. Soft whispers echoed down the tunnel that threatened to engulf him and his companions. Beside him Daniel could hear the soft whoosh of breath being exhaled. Then light exploded around them, consuming them. Screams ricocheted along the corridor, fire burst from the zat gun in his hand, blood spattered against his skin. Then he was running for the tunnel's end, footsteps pounding behind him, Sam's voice urging him forward, raking fire past him into the enemy running full pelt toward them. He skidded around the corner and came to a sudden halt. The tunnel was gone now, around him were the red mines of hell. He was surrounded by despair and pain. A guard raised his whip even as Daniel raised his hand to fire, but there was now no weapon in his hand. Staring at the beast of a human, Daniel flung himself between the guard and his victim, cringing in anticipation of the whip's lash against his unprotected back. But the scene melted before him, and he was crouched on the floor of a tent, Sha're's beautiful face inches from his own, her body blackened where Teal'c's staff weapon had hit in that fatal blow. The love he had seen in her eyes in that last instant nearly crushed him. He reached for her, wanting to touch her one last time but she melted from his view even as his hand whispered across hers. The museum was cold and austere, just the way he remembered it. Across the marble flooring his parents were overseeing the placement of a large block to top off the exhibit they had worked on for so long. Daniel wanted to scream out to them, stop them from moving under that huge piece, knowing that whatever he did, he could not stop the inevitable.  
  
His nightmare continued, around and around, pulling the terrors from his hidden places, pushing them to prominence, not letting him turn from them until he suddenly surged from sleep, his breath coming in huge gulps as he fought back the emotions that threatened to swamp him. His senses were limited to the pounding of his heart and the thunder of his blood surging in his ears, deafening him to every other noise. He could almost feel the non-existent weapon's weight in his hand, smell the tang of freshly spilled blood, see the bright eyes of his latest victim staring at him in horror and pain.  
  
Daniel's eyes sought the comfort of the fire's embers even as his heartbeat slowly returned to normal. Shaking, he ran a hand over his sweat soaked face, willing himself back to some semblance of normality. As his blood pressure dropped his hearing returned, and with it the sounds of Vicky's sobs.  
  
Peering across the fire to where she lay, he could see she still slept, and yet she was crying so hard that tears glistened visibly in the fire's glow. Moving carefully, not trusting his equilibrium just yet, Daniel made his way to her side. If their sleep was being disturbed by this place, and if his dreams were anything to go by, Vicky was in the throws of one mother of a nightmare. Not sure what to do to ease her out of it, he lay one hand on her shoulder and called her name. It made no impact, except that her distress seemed to worsen. In the back of his mind he seemed to remember that you shouldn't wake someone who was sleepwalking, but what about nightmares? Could he cause more harm than good if he shook her awake? Her distress woke his ready compassion but he just didn't know what to do to help.  
  
Suddenly Vicky jerked upright, eyes wide with terror, not seeing anything or anyone around her. Daniel wasn't even sure she was awake, the blind look in her eyes seemed to indicate she was still in her nightmare's grip. He tentatively touched her shoulder again as her body shook with the force of her tears. Moving closer he stroked her face with his fingers, calling her name again, her lack of response beginning to scare him now.  
  
"Vicky?" Gently he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him. She was shuddering with the cold and reaction to the visions tearing her apart, but she suddenly turned to him, her face burrowing into his shoulder. He cradled her head with one hand while he dragged her blanket around her with the other, then he pulled her closer, his face resting against her sweat soaked hair as his hand moved soothingly across her back. Murmuring softly to her, Daniel did his best to bring her back from whatever demons were tormenting her. His own nightmares had been with him for many years and in some way they had been losing their affect on him, until recently that was. Even though it was he that was attempting to give comfort, he found that her presence in his arms was gradually taming the turmoil he was experiencing. He pulled her a little closer, letting her warmth seep into him like a healing balm.  
  
The change came rapidly, one moment Vicky was holding on to him as though he were her lifeline, the next she had gasped and pulled away from him, eyes alert and wary above her tear stained cheeks.  
  
"Are you okay?" Daniel asked, reluctant to break contact with her, his hand still resting on her back. "You were having a nightmare which, if it was anything like mine…" He shook his head, trying to remove the post dream images from his own mind.  
  
A cold wind blew across the compound and they both shivered. Vicky, her eyes now lowered from his, drew her blanket closer and closed her eyes, then opened them quickly as though her nightmares still lived behind her lowered lids.  
  
Daniel stood and retrieved more wood to put on the fire, banking it up until it burned brightly, taking some of the chill from the air. Her silence worried him; Vicky wasn't the quiet type, at least not when something bothered her. This retreat into herself wasn't good. Though he had been guilty of the same withdrawal time and again, he knew better than to encourage it in someone else.  
  
He dropped down beside her again, leaving a small space between them yet hopefully close enough to offer comfort.  
  
"Vicky, I don't know what you were dreaming about, but I need to know if this place is causing the phenomenon, or whether it's just our own unease. I've had my fair share of bad dreams over the years, but nothing like this."  
  
Vicky's eyes remained firmly on the firelight, her sculptured profile not giving anything away. But Daniel could see that the knuckles of her hands were almost white where she gripped the blanket's edge. Whatever her demons were, they were with her now even as were his own.  
  
"Perhaps if I tell you something of mine?" he began reluctantly. Shifting to a more comfortable position, his eyes too rested on the dancing flames. It was harder than he had thought. There was so much about him that this woman didn't know, couldn't know, and yet it was vital to understand some at least of who he was if she were to comprehend the affect the dreams had had.  
  
"There has been one dream, one nightmare that has been with me for a while now," he murmured softly. "I'm with friends, we are somewhere alien, dark. From out of nowhere we are attacked. I have a weapon, it changes night to night, but each time the dream ends the same. I kill someone. I never see who but…" He took a deep breath, finally uttering out loud the fear that had haunted him every night. "I'm pretty sure I kill one of my team. That it's my fault that one of them dies. By my hand. Tonight… tonight I saw it all again, time after time. And it wasn't just that one," he rushed on, not wanting to dwell on the images that had sprung to life in the flames. "My wife…She was killed in front of me. There was nothing I could do to stop it. I tried…" His words trailed off, this was too hard. With the dreams still vivid in his mind's eye just the thought of Sha're brought a lump to his throat and tears to his eyes.  
  
Daniel shifted uncomfortably, forcing himself to continue. "It didn't stop there though. God, it was like walking through some weird impressionist painting. Every bloody awful event in my life held up for me to review, to relive. Last night I dreamed about the sacrifices that took place here. That didn't seem too weird. But tonight… If this happens to everyone who comes here I can understand the way the porters reacted."  
  
He almost didn't catch her words, so quietly had she spoken and so focussed had he become on the flames licking eagerly at the wood he had added to the pile.  
  
"My father died somewhere in the jungle. I was at University when it happened. An anonymous call to my dorm told me to go home, that something had happened to my father. I didn't believe it at first. I phoned the house every hour all day long. Father was not on any trip, at least not that he had told me about, and he always did so that I wouldn't worry."  
  
Vicky pulled the blanket a little closer, sending a quick, searching glance at Daniel's riveted face, then returned her eyes to the firelight.  
  
"When I got home the next day, the police were waiting for me. They took me to the morgue. His body had been mutilated, his heart ripped out of his chest."  
  
Tears were streaming silently down her face now; she bent her head to her knees, resting her forehead on the dark material. Daniel moved closer, laying his hand lightly on her back, not knowing what to do or say.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Vicky." His eyes rested speculatively on the almost invisible mound of the fallen altar, a horrible thought echoing in his head. "It didn't happen here?"  
  
The blanket muffled her voice as she continued her story. "No, he was found close to our hacienda." Her face lifted to finally look at him. "You asked what I dreamed of, Doctor Jackson. I dreamed of the death of my father."  
  
"When did this happen?" he asked quietly. Now that he had her talking he didn't want to break the link they had forged through their mutual experience.  
  
"Two years ago. There had been rumours for years that some of the old practices had been revived. Superstition runs rife in some of the more out of the way villages. There are communities up here that shun the western world, believing that that the Gods will protect them. Father had come across an altar that was still in use - animals, not people, or so he believed. But that had been years before. I was in my last year at the University when it happened."  
  
"The police…?"  
  
Vicky shook her head. "They tried, perhaps, but they found no one to blame. Somewhere out here is my father's murderer." She was quiet for a moment; Daniel held his breath waiting for her to continue. Her tear drowned eyes turned to him eventually. "This is the first time I have come into the jungle since it happened."  
  
Her courage moved him. To be reminded at every temple they had passed, at every altar that still stood, of the death of her father must have been incredibly difficult. He understood the desire to avoid anything that could remind you of such terrible loss. When Sha're had died, something inside of him had wanted him to crawl away, find some dark hole and bury himself in it. Every time he walked through the Stargate after that had been a struggle. Before, when he had passed through that liquid circle it had been with the hope of finding his wife, of finding a way to break through and save her from the prisoner she had become. Now there was no hope, it had died along with Sha're in that opulent tent. And part of him had died too. The past years had been one long struggle to find some equilibrium in his life. On the few occasions when he had allowed his heart to feel a little warmth, it had been summarily snatched from him. He had been burned too many times to ever allow the wall he had erected to be breached. And yet, he felt himself drawn to the woman next to him. Reluctantly, inexorably, he made himself pull back from her, withdrawing his hand from her back under the pretence of putting another piece of wood to the fire. He did not replace it.  
  
"Why did you decide to come now, on this trip?"  
  
Vicky wiped away the last of her tears with the back of her hand, pulling herself up, and wrapping the blanket a little tighter around herself before answering.  
  
"I wasn't sure I was going to do this trip. I had been turning down one offer after another until they had all but dried up. I'd been working as a translator for the past six months; it seemed the easiest way to earn a living. I'm fluent in ten languages, read a few more, but the opportunities were few and far between. I never returned to University to take my finals so a post with a museum or on a dig was out of the question. Money was tight and yours was a good offer. But even so I hadn't decided until I met you."  
  
Daniel had always found it hard to keep his emotions from his face, and his surprise must have shown.  
  
Vicky's tentative smile settled on him warmly and it was all he could do to quash the sudden flutter within himself. There was no way he was going to let this woman into his heart, absolutely no way.  
  
***  
  
Next morning, as soon as the sun had begun to rise and they could see the clearing around them, they moved camp to outside the temple walls. They hadn't discussed the move, but each had known that another night within the compound would be detrimental to their mental well being.  
  
"Look, Vicky, I think you should leave me here to finish this up. It won't take me too long to uncover the other stones, once I have that done I'll come back down."  
  
"No."  
  
His raised brows had no effect on her. "No? Just like that? After last night I'm not sure either of us should stay, but I can't leave this place until I have at least noted all the symbols. Then I can come back with a proper team and…"  
  
She moved quickly to stand in front of him, her presence almost intimidating despite her diminutive size. "No one comes back here. This place should be destroyed, and give the jungle time enough it will vanish. And I won't leave you here alone. Either we both leave, or we both stay."  
  
"But if this place is the cause of the nightmares…"  
  
"Then it will affect you whether you are alone or not." She waited a bare second, not giving him time to gather a suitable reply. "And with two of us to do the work, we can leave that much quicker. I studied archaeology at University. I specialised in the Mayan peoples. Together we can notate all that we need and get away from this place as soon as possible."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me before?" Daniel felt faintly aggrieved that he had struggled all the previous day alone, when he had help on hand.  
  
Vicky shrugged. "Most of my clients don't want help and, to be truthful, I wasn't sure if you were an archaeologist at all until yesterday."  
  
"But you knew who I was, you knew about Nick. Why did you doubt me?" Puzzled, Daniel watched her face for any clues.  
  
"Anyone can say who they are, Doctor. You don't look much like any other client I have had. To tell the truth, I thought you looked more military."  
  
Daniel couldn't help it, laughter spilled from him, and once he started he could not stop. Above his head birds scattered in all directions as his mirth carried across the jungle.  
  
"Oh, don't let Jack hear you say that!" and he was off again, laughing so hard tears were running down his face. Reaction to the night before perhaps, but it felt so good to let some healthy emotion run riot through him.  
  
"I'm sorry," he gasped finally, wiping his face. "Ahhh, oh wow, that was… cathartic."  
  
"Who's Jack?"  
  
Vicky's question quenched the laughter in him as his nightmare surfaced. He grimaced slightly then spoke. "Jack is the head of my, ah, team. Research mainly."  
  
It wasn't exactly a lie; a lot of their missions could be considered research in its broadest sense.  
  
Her bright eyes rested on him speculatively. "Weapons?"  
  
So, she had been listening to his discourse the night before. He had said too much maybe while his barriers had been so low. "It can get a little dangerous where we go. So, shall I remove the creepers and you sketch the glyphs or do you prefer to work a wall each?"  
  
She took his change of subject in good part. "You can do that wall you started yesterday, I'll start clearing and notating that one over there."  
  
For the rest of the morning they worked in companionable silence. Just the occasional grunt of exertion as one or other of them dragged tenacious creepers from their death grip on the rough wall, or the gentle flick of pencil on paper as they faithfully copied the tantalisingly half familiar designs, broke the quiet.  
  
Daniel was on the last section of his wall when he came across his find. The block was the same size as all the others but seemed to have retained a small amount of paint. Something that had been missing on all the other pieces. Mud had crept up the face, hiding a good two thirds of the design from his view. He needed his tools, and returned to the campsite to retrieve the wooden box.  
  
Vicky found him some fifteen minutes later still standing by the now cold fire, the box open and neglected at his feet, his eyes locked to the stone that rested in his palm. Her touch on his arm snapped him out of his reverie.  
  
"I'm sorry, Doctor Jackson, but you didn't seem to hear me."  
  
"You know, I really wish you'd call me Daniel," he murmured almost under his breath. She heard him though, and gave a tiny shake of her head.  
  
"You were here so long I thought I had best see if you were all right. What's that?"  
  
Daniel's gaze moved back to the stone, his eyes immediately beginning to trace the etched design. He had been staring at it for what seemed a lifetime, and now, as his gaze wandered over the surface, he thought he saw what had been nagging at him since Teal'c had presented him with the gift. It was not just one extremely complicated design that he was looking at, but a series of them, one interlinking with another; to be overlaid by another still, and on and on. Like seeing a book's pages one on top of another, each visible and yet invisible as words blurred.  
  
"I think," he said slowly, "this may hold the key to the symbols on the walls." Now that he had the idea he found it almost impossible to remove his attention from the stone, as one by one the ideograms seemed to surface.  
  
Vicky peered over his arm and looked for herself. "I don't see the connection."  
  
It was her scent and proximity that broke the stone's spell, as he became all too aware of the vibrant woman standing so close. For once, the thrall of the past did not overwhelm his sense of the here and now. He cleared his throat quietly.  
  
"I think that the symbols on the wall are all on this stone. If you look closely you can just make out the individual designs. See here," he pointed to the middle section where the glyph that looked so like Ma'at was engraved.  
  
"Where did it come from?" Vicky queried, her finger tracing the design.  
  
"A friend gave this to me. Unfortunately he didn't know its provenance, just that his father had brought it back from his… travels."  
  
"His father was an archaeologist too?" Vicky asked in all innocence.  
  
Daniel's tight grimace added to Vicky's confusion as he spoke. "Ah, no, not exactly."  
  
Daniel knew that now was the time to end this trip, to go back to civilisation, get in touch with the SGC and have someone out to check the site, it seemed that yet another alien race had been by for a visit. As the years went by, Daniel had begun to think that Earth was just a way station for every passing alien race. Stop off there for a while, grab some of the natives; weather's nice, you'll have a great time. With his mind going off at a tangent, he could imagine 'wish you were here' postcards with that picture of Earth from space on every one.  
  
"Let's finish up the wall I'm working on. Want to help?" And no, he wasn't going to examine his motives too closely for wanting Vicky inches away from him for the rest of the afternoon.  
  
It was painstaking work. Try as they might, some of the paint flaked away at the barest touch of the fine instruments. But by evening they had almost all of it uncovered. Not only did this block differ in that it was painted, but it held more than one symbol. Daniel had straight away gone to the second wall, working quickly around the stones until he found a matching one on that wall, just past where Vicky had reached. And again on the other two walls.  
  
"Do you have a compass?" Daniel shouted across the darkening temple ruins.  
  
The stones lined up perfectly for each compass point. Sighing in satisfaction, he made his way back through the middle of the ruins, past where the fallen altar stood. The oval depression caught his attention. The sun, setting behind him, poured its last rays onto that one section of the toppled granite. In his pocket the stone knocked against his leg. Sliding his hand around the stone Daniel pulled it out and rubbed the design with a gentle thumb then looked speculatively at the indentation. He could almost hear Jack's voice echoing in his head saying 'Daniel, what have I told you about touching stuff. Now put it back!'  
  
Insatiable curiosity got the better of his common sense - again. The stone fitted perfectly into the depression and Daniel held his breath, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. No burst of lightning struck him down, no alien appeared from out of the ether, fireworks did not light up the sky. He pulled Teal'c's gift out of the altar and made his way back to the camp site where Vicky was already making their evening meal, feeling vaguely disappointed. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
  
The base was quiet at this time of night. The ticking of the clock made no impression on Samantha Carter as she stared, unseeing, at the granite block. Her frustration at its unfathomable interior festered within her mind, but at the moment that had taken a back seat to her strange emotional state.  
  
Daniel's departure had left her feeling out of sorts in a way that she could not put her finger on. She had not felt this way when they had been separated before, not even when he had gone under cover with the Goa'uld. There had been a haunted look in his eyes on his return from that mission that should have warned them of this crisis. But they had each of them ignored the warning signs. Daniel was resilient - they all knew that. Daniel coped with all the crap that life sent his way - they knew that too. But there was only so much one person could take, and Daniel had found his limit. She had turned out to be a poor friend when the chips were down, and that hurt. No matter that she had seen that same realisation lurking behind the colonel's carefully composed features, nor lighting Teal'c's impassive face. Between them they should have seen this coming. Daniel was out in the jungle, alone, needing them, and they weren't there.  
  
She sighed and bent her gaze to the intractable artefact before her. The temptation to grab a sledgehammer and smash the rocky cube to smithereens was almost overwhelming, even as her scientific side pulled back in horror. And after all, it was only gut instinct that was telling her that anything was harboured by the block. Every test had come back negative. She had no idea why this lump of unremarkable rock was driving her insane with curiosity.  
  
"Major, it's oh-two hundred hours, what are you doing here?"  
  
O'Neill's sharp tone brought her head around. "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't know you were still here."  
  
"And…?"  
  
"This artefact, it's getting to me I guess."  
  
"Right, Carter. So, time to go home, get some rest, come back at the problem when you are more alert."  
  
She opened her mouth to argue.  
  
"Ah! Ah, ah, ah! I can make that an order."  
  
"Yes, sir. I'll just set it for one more scan, then I can analyse the results in the morning." As she left, Sam took one last quick glance around, then turned off the lights.  
  
Colonel and major walked together down the deserted corridors, an uneasy silence between them. Sam wondered what had kept the colonel so late; he was usually out of the facility as soon as he could be. The answer wasn't far away. They both slowed as Daniel's locked lab came in to view.  
  
She could guess at the hours the colonel had spent wandering around the SGC, much as she had herself, the place seeming somehow emptier without Daniel's solid presence. O'Neill seemed to tense slightly as they approached the door, though his face remained perfectly controlled.  
  
"Do you think he's alright?"  
  
Jack picked up the pace a little, pushing them past the unremarkable door. "Our Daniel? He has more lives than a cat. He'll be just fine, Carter. Just fine."  
  
Back in Major Carter's lab, the machine that had so far found no results hummed to itself as it ran one test after another. A slight tick echoed around the room as it switched to another programme, one not within Carter's parameters. On the bench a faint echoing of the machine's hum emanated from the block. Deep in its depths, the metal core glowed briefly, then died away. The seemingly plain surface gleamed in the darkness, the faint shadow of a complicated design flared briefly then was gone; that brief yet rhythmic flare was to continue for the next few hours and would drive the SGC to drastic action.  
  
***  
  
Daniel felt dirty and uncomfortable; what he wouldn't give right now for a long hot shower, a huge mug of extra strong coffee and his own bed. But for all the aches in his back and shoulders from his hunched position by the wall, he felt remarkably content. That afternoon had been just what he needed to wipe away at least some of his doubts. From the moment he had seen the temple an almost overwhelming need to discover all he could about it had taken possession of him. Even the nightmares he and Vicky had endured the night before did little to dissuade him from trying to discover who had built the huge walls and carved the intriguing glyphs. And now, with the firelight playing across their faces, he and Vicky were deep in discussions about Ancient Egypt - what could be more perfect?  
  
Her knowledge was extensive, surprisingly so for someone who had never felt the hot sand under her feet, nor handled the broken shards of a life long past as it saw daylight for the first time in centuries. Though her speciality was the ancient Maya, her understanding of other cultures was phenomenal.  
  
"What was your favourite find?" Hazel eyes watched him intently across the flickering flames. Her thirst for knowledge almost matched his own, and it pleased him greatly that she was taking an interest in something that filled his own heart with such passion. He stumbled over the thought, realising that for the first time in months he was really enthused about something. And the glorious thing was that he knew it would not leave him again. He smiled broadly before answering her, letting that secret knowledge warm him.  
  
"It's nothing special. Nothing that would make the journals sit up and take notice, but it touched me. We had been digging in a small village not far from Luxor and we came across a huge amount of shards. The sort of thing the villagers had used to scribble notes, or write letters on. It was such an intimate find, like reading someone's diary from centuries before. The daily minutia laid out for us to read. Women griping about their husbands. Men complaining about their bosses. A note to do this or that, shopping lists, recipes. It brought their lives that much closer to ours to know that they thought the same way we do, had the same petty jealousies, the same feelings of love and hate. We even found a love letter, or it could have been a poem."  
  
"I've never seen anything like that. The university had some pieces, and they let us roam the museum at will, but the kind of thing you are talking about would have been hidden from us." Vicky sighed, resting her chin on her drawn up knees. "I envy you, Doctor Jackson, to have had the chance to see so much."  
  
If you only knew, Daniel thought, but he kept that to himself.  
  
"Why don't you go back and finish your studies? You could specialise in the Mayan culture. There is so much the community doesn't understand about this." His hand waved in the general direction of the temple. "The writings alone could take a lifetime to decipher; we know so little about them."  
  
Dissatisfaction coloured his guide's voice as she replied. "But I want to see more. I want to touch history the way you have, to be there when something new is discovered. It's not possible of course. I can't afford to go back now and resume my studies. I keep up with the journals when I can, I take in lectures when one comes close to me, and there is always the Internet, but it doesn't compare with fieldwork. I wish…" She shook her head, tossing her mane of hair back from her face.  
  
"So, Doctor, can you remember any of the poem you found?" Vicky's voice was bright as she changed subjects quickly, wrapping her arms around her knees and focussing on her companion.  
  
He was quiet for a moment as he searched his memories, closing his eyes to aid his recall.  
  
"It was from a woman to her lover, the man she calls brother as they did."  
  
Vicky nodded, her eyes never wavering from his.  
  
With his voice low and soft, suited to the mood and the night, he began.  
  
"My brother, it is pleasant to go to the pond in order to bathe in thy presence that I might let thee see my beauty in my tunic of finest royal linen when it is wet.  
  
Fairest one, my desire shall be that if my brother can not be with me tonight then I am like him who is in the grave.  
  
For art thou not health and life…" Daniel's voice trailed off. He could not take his eyes off Vicky's face. Her eyes were wide with emotion, he knew his own breath was quickening at the images the poem had instigated. It was so easy to see the gorgeous woman who sat before him in the wet linen that would cling to every curve. He coughed self-consciously and dragged his eyes away, ignoring the tightening in his groin and the sudden flush through his veins.  
  
"I, uh, I think I'll turn in. It's been a hard day."  
  
Vicky watched him for a moment longer, something lurking in the back of her eyes that made him eager to leave his place by the fire to join her. But he would not, could not start something here. She was vulnerable, as was he right now. It would never work. Just stay on your side of the fire, he admonished himself, just go to sleep and don't dream about her.  
  
His wish was not to be fulfilled.  
  
This time his dream began in the full glare of the mid day sun. The temple stood fully restored with bright paint decorating the walls; the steps to the sacrificial altar were back in place piercing the air. Atop the pyre the altar gleamed under the intense heat which highlighted the dark stains that ran in rivulets down its sides. He stood at the very top of the steps, behind the slab. In the brilliant light the design on its side stood out in perfect clarity. Below him a procession was approaching the steps in ceremonial fashion. At the heart of the column of magnificently apparelled natives strode a woman, head held high, cloaked with the sacrificial mantle. As she raised her eyes to his Daniel wanted to give voice to his horror. Vicky's hazel eyes met his with no recognition and he could not open his mouth to warn her. His heart pounded in rhythm to the slow progression up the steps toward him, below the crowd stood in humble, reverent silence. Like an onlooker from within his own body, there was nothing Daniel could do to stop what he knew was about to happen. Looking down at himself he saw that he too was dressed in native costume. The kilt that hugged his hips left his legs on display, on his chest a medallion of office lay against his bare flesh, and the heavy mantle of a cloak hugged his shoulders. In his hand the knife, its hilt embedded with jade, flashed in the sunlight, the blade wickedly sharp. And then she was before him. Two ushers removed the cloak from her shoulders with great reverence even as he was disrobed. He lifted the knife to the sky, uttering words he could not translate. Then Vicky was being bent back over the altar, her breasts exposed to the gods. With a savage movement the blade flashed down, sinking deep into her chest as her screams echoed in his head. All the while he was screaming inside at the horror of his actions and his inability to stop the sacrifice happening by his hand.  
  
He surged upward, his voice hoarse and loud in the utter stillness of the forest night. The nightmare had been so vivid that he could still feel the warmth of her blood where it had splattered across his naked chest, could feel the tremulous last beats of her heart as it pumped feebly in his cupped hands.  
  
"No!"  
  
Awareness came to him slowly. The touch of strong hands on his shoulders, shaking him. Soft tones calling his name, drawing him back from the abyss of madness that seemed determined to pursue him in every moment.  
  
"Doctor Jackson… Doctor Jackson."  
  
He heard her, faintly, but his thoughts would not settle. Visions of the gaping wound, the sound of the crowd's roared approval, muffled his senses almost to the exclusion of everything else.  
  
"Daniel? Daniel you're scaring me. Please…"  
  
He raised his head slowly, trying to shake away the fog that had settled in his mind. She was there in front of him, alive, breathing… alive! Her face barely visible in the moonlit night was just inches away from his. Full lips were parted as she prepared to speak again; her eyes were full of concern.  
  
"I'm okay," he managed to mumble through suddenly parched lips. "Just give me a moment." Dragging himself up, he drew his knees to his chest and let his forehead rest on them, taking deep steadying breaths, aware of her kneeling beside him, her hand on his shoulder acting like an anchor.  
  
"That was… unpleasant." Daniel's voice was still a little unsteady even as he tried to relax his body and bring his heart rate down.  
  
Vicky stayed beside him, leaving her hand resting lightly on him as though reluctant to break contact. Then she let her hand trail lightly down his arm before removing it. Daniel felt the loss keenly, and some of the warmth went out of the night as she moved away from him to build up the fire.  
  
"Tell me about the dream. Was it the same as last night?"  
  
Running one hand over his face, Daniel tried to decide what to tell her. To hear of your own death, even in someone else's dream would not be pleasant, yet he owed her the truth. He saw the involuntary flinch as he related the nightmare, cringing inside at the pain he had inflicted. The memories of her own father's death brought back to her with his words.  
  
"I didn't dream, Doctor Jackson."  
  
The import of Vicky's words was all too evident.  
  
He was insane then, or depressive, or … he couldn't think of the right term. McKenzie would surely think of something impressive to call it Daniel mused with a detachment that was chilling his soul. I've finally taken that step into the darkness, such a waste, such a waste. His gaze rested on the shadowed wall behind Vicky, not wanting her to see the madness he was sure lurked in his eyes.  
  
Silvery blue light suddenly lit the area, a moment later and it was gone. He stared unbelieving at the edifice, his breath held in anticipation. There, it happened again.  
  
"Uh, Vicky." He turned to his companion and pointed at the wall behind her. "Am I hallucinating as well?"  
  
She turned, and followed his pointing finger, eyes puzzled and wary.  
  
The pulse lit the temple again, maybe ten seconds, but long enough to outline the bas-reliefs etched into the granite. And this time Daniel noted that the light came from those stones carved with the pseudo Egyptian glyphs that were driving him crazy.  
  
Daniel put aside his unaccustomed depressive mood to deal with the problem in front of him. Scrambling to his feet he quickly donned his heavy boots and made his way warily toward the entrance, passing through the massive stone gateway and into the pitch-black gloom beyond. Utter silence dominated the ruins, he heard his own footsteps echoing around him, could feel his pulse racing. How many times had he done this now? But this time there was no team to back him up, no one to watch his back and a civilian walking right behind him.  
  
Glyphs that had been barely discernible that afternoon now glowed brightly with each pulse. He stared at them, noting the order, knowing that somewhere, at some time, he had seen these very same symbols. A precursor to the Egyptian hieroglyphs, maybe even the original scripts? So much had been deliberately erase from Egypt's written history. It had been puzzling the archaeological world for decades, how the written language had suddenly appeared. He knew of course that the Goa'uld had much to do with the shaping of the land and its people, and yet there were no Goa'uld writings to be found anywhere, on any continent, in any museum. When they left they had eradicated all traces, bar that which lived in the myth and legends of every culture.  
  
Was this then some ancient Goa'uld temple? He thought not, but the reasoning behind his conclusion was misty, just a gut feeling that this place, even with its blood stained history, was not their work.  
  
Cautiously he approached the fallen altar, aware that Vicky was right behind him, almost in his footsteps. He could only imagine what this was like for her. He turned and tried to give her his best reassuring smile, her eyes were wide with apprehension, yet she moved with purpose as they made their way to the huge block. Daniel waited for the next pulse to light the ground, his fingers searching for the stone Teal'c had given him which still lay buried in his deep pocket. He drew it forth and waited expectantly. The next pulse flared and the stone on his palm grew hot, almost too much for his flesh to take. Each glyph seemed to stand out, making each design clear and legible for those few seconds. Sure that the stone belonged in the altar Daniel moved forward and placed the artefact into the slot, hearing a loud click as the piece seemed to merge with the stone.  
  
The night air had become heavy, as though a storm was about to erupt all around them, and yet the sky was brilliantly clear. A hint of electricity inched across his skin, making him shiver slightly. Again he checked the sky only to be greeted with panoply of stars twinkling down upon him, mocking his sudden anxiety.  
  
The pulse stopped and became one steady light, brightening up the temple, until every corner was lit with the silvery brilliance.  
  
"What now?" Vicky breathed from his left. "What does it mean?"  
  
"I have no idea," he replied slowly. His eyes wandered around the lit stones again, their meaning tantalisingly close. With growing frustration he moved from one to the other, then back to the altar, muttering under his breath. "Where, where, where? Damn, I wish I had access to my notes. I know I have seen this…" He stopped in front of the altar once again, drawn back to it by Teal'c's gift. "Ernest's planet! That's it… one of the four, maybe. Or was it…damn it!"  
  
Frustration ran riot through him. His memory was phenomenal, but there had been so much data in that meeting room, so much that he had not been able to film, and he still hadn't had time to go through all the footage he had taken, let alone transcribe any of it.  
  
"Doctor Jackson…" Vicky's voice whispered, her hand touching his arm with a gentle insistence.  
  
A softly glowing ball of light had appeared overhead. With a crack that shook the temple, lightning seemed to flash from the glow to sear the earth beneath in a sheet of blue. On the other side of the altar, as the phenomenon dissipated, it revealed a humanoid form dressed all in white. Tall and thin to the point of emaciation, still the figure gave off an aura of strength. At its side was the largest jaguar Daniel had ever seen. Two pairs of dark eyes watched him with curiosity. There seemed no malice in the alien's features, just a wistful sadness as he looked around the devastated temple.  
  
"Hello." Daniel took a step forward, arms open in a universal gesture of good will. "My name is Danie…"  
  
The brilliance of the light that surrounded Vicky and himself was blinding. The accompanying boom shook his brain until blackness claimed him. The last thing he heard was Vicky's terrified scream and his own thoughts echoing 'not again'.  
  
***  
  
The shrill ringing of the telephone dragged Samantha Carter up from a deep yet troubled sleep. For the last couple of days she had been finding herself waking at odd hours, aware of some unpleasant dream lurking just out of reach. She shook her head, trying to erase the unease from her mind. Still groggy, she listened in growing concern to the tinny voice at the other end of the phone line. Within minutes she was dressed and driving well over the speed limit on the race to reach the mountain facility before something unfixable happened.  
  
O'Neill's jeep beat her to the parking lot by seconds and both headed at a fast trot to the elevator.  
  
"Any guesses, Carter?"  
  
"None, sir. I hadn't expected anything to happen at all. Just more negative results. O'Halloran just said the block was pulsing, no radiation detected as yet. It could be anything or nothing… I just don't know."  
  
Suiting up, just in case, Carter and O'Neill entered her lab cautiously. The pulse of light emitting from the block ceased abruptly, plunging the room into darkness lit only by the security light.  
  
"Did you see that? That symbol wasn't there this morning." Carter turned to the shelves, grabbing a recorder and set it up opposite the block. She was determined to catch the image on tape, just in case.  
  
"What was that!" O'Neill took a step back as the block glowed once more then hurried to the door. "Get Teal'c here, now."  
  
Sam hurried to her instruments, all the displays read negative, except for that of her new toy. Every number was off the scale. Energy, radiation, though the band was wholly new to her, even light wave emissions though the spectrum was so extended she didn't know where to start on analysing the results.  
  
"Major Carter, Colonel." Hammond's voice boomed at them from the observation room. "We have more trouble. I want you both to see this."  
  
"But sir…"Carter protested.  
  
"It's relevant, Major, or I wouldn't take you away from this."  
  
They hurried up to the control room where the general was watching incoming data with a heavy frown. "I asked NASA to check if anything untoward was happening elsewhere, in or outside our atmosphere. They came back with this a few moments ago."  
  
"My god!" Carter quickly took a seat at the panels and began typing in instructions. Pulling data from her lab computer and adding it to that coming in from NASA's findings. "They are identical. The output is greater but…"  
  
Jack leaned over her shoulder, not understanding the science but knowing that whatever it was it probably wasn't going to be fun for the SGC.  
  
"Locations, Carter?"  
  
"Working on it, sir." Her eyes scoured the displays as her fingers tapped quickly on the keyboard. "Just one, Central America…" her voice trailed off for a moment. "Sir, it's Belize."  
  
Jack's eyes closed briefly as he swore softly under his breath. "General, permission to investigate."  
  
Hammond considered the request, then, "Not just yet, Colonel. I want to know what we are dealing with before I send out a team. So far only NASA and ourselves know about this. Major, see what you can find out about the phenomenon. I need to know if it's a major threat."  
  
She nodded and almost ran back out of the room, her mind already turning over possibilities.  
  
"But General, Daniel's out there. Hell, he's probably right in the middle of whatever it is. He attracts this stuff like a damn magnet. If he's in trouble we have to go."  
  
"I know, Colonel. I don't like it any better than you. Ah, Teal'c, what did you find out?"  
  
The Jaffa's impassive face gave nothing away. "I have never seen this type of radiation before, General. However, the symbol now showing on the block in Major Carter's laboratory is familiar to me. My father gave me a stone many years ago that bears the same design, though he did not know its origin."  
  
"And…?" Jack queried, impatient with his friend's lack of information.  
  
"I gave the stone to Daniel Jackson."  
  
"Oh jeez. Oh that's great, just peachy."  
  
"Colonel?"  
  
"I'm sorry, General, but you know Daniel. I just bet he's had a hand in this, whatever "it" is. Sir, we really have to go find him. He's probably the one person who can figure it out anyway."  
  
"We'll wait for Major Carter's report, then I'll make my decision. In the meantime you might want to check Doctor Jackson's files, see if he has any information about this symbol Teal'c recognises."  
  
Jack's impatience was written all over his face, but he curbed his unease. Dragging Teal'c down to Daniel's locked office they entered together.  
  
The clutter was awesome, though both men were aware that Daniel knew where every piece of paper was and could lay his hand on any item within moments. It seemed strange to them both that he wasn't there, that the intelligence that lived within their comrade's mind was not available to them when they most needed it.  
  
"Right, well let's get started. Teal'c, you have any idea where to start?" O'Neill gazed around the room with a hopeless look in his eyes.  
  
"I would suggest the computer, O'Neill."  
  
"Right. Sure. Okay, I can do that."  
  
They flicked on the screen and waited in uncomfortable silence as files loaded on to the desktop. The folders were endless, and many were in languages that Jack had never seen before. Obviously some coding that only Daniel would understand, which was great when someone else needed his data. There was only one thing for it, with a sigh he clicked on the first icon and opened up another list of folders. "This could take a while," he murmured.  
  
"Indeed," replied the stoic Jaffa. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
  
Consciousness came at a price. Daniel ached from the tips of his toes up to somewhere about six inches past the top of his head. Every molecule screamed insistently. The sensation was similar to the first time he had travelled through the Stargate, before Sam had tweaked the settings. Add to that the effects of a zat gun and you just about had the experience right if you multiplied it by a factor of ten.  
  
With an effort he opened his eyes, shuddering at the percussive explosions that the movement elicited from every nerve ending. Holding back a groan of pain he forced himself upright briefly noting the soft mattress under his fingers, the subdued lighting, and pale metallic walls. He sat still for a moment, letting his body settle. Taking a cautious breath in, he waited for the pain to subside somewhat, before sliding his legs over the edge of the bed.  
  
It took all of ten minutes before the room stopped spinning around him and his stomach stopped wanting to expel his dinner from the night before. He hadn't felt this bad since… well he couldn't ever remember feeling this awful. Even though the light within the room was dull he found himself squinting, adding to the pain now centred at the back of his skull. Finally he lifted his head and tried to focus on the room.  
  
The place was bare of any decoration bar one panel of glyphs that highlighted each wall. But what drew him most was the open doorway and the realisation that Vicky was not here with him. With infinite care Daniel slid from the bed, letting his boots drop lightly to the floor. He still felt light headed, and chilled to the bone, but there were more important things than his state of health to worry about. Heading to the nearest panel, he tried to make sense of the symbols. He didn't want to walk through the door if the panel was a warning that he would get fried if he made the attempt.  
  
Searching fingers felt each raised symbol as though touching it would somehow make it easier to decipher. "Okay, you can do this," Daniel murmured to himself. "Let's suppose it is an ancient form of Egyptian, then this would be the symbol for Ma'at, and this would be…" He worked his way from symbol to symbol, the pounding of his head slowing his thought processes to a minimum. Suddenly the panel made perfect sense to him. Like a flash of inspiration he could read its meaning as easily as any textbook. He spoke the words out loud, translating as he went.  
  
"Yes, you are correct."  
  
Daniel spun around, then regretted the sudden move as his balance failed him, sending him staggering to the wall. Blackness washed over him and the last thing he remembered seeing was the alien frowning at him before moving in his direction.  
  
When next he woke the pain had gone from his body, though his head still ached abominably, and he wasn't alone. Curled beside him Vicky lay asleep, her body shivering as though with cold though the room was warmer than was comfortable for him. Daniel lay one hand on her forehead, her temperature seemed over cool to the back of his hand; though her pulse beat rhythmically under his fingers where they rested on her wrist. Stripping off his fleece he spread it over her, smoothing back the hair from her face, and tucking it behind her ear. He had to get her out of here, this was no place for a civilian, no place for someone who didn't know that aliens existed let alone the horrors they were capable of.  
  
The shivering seemed to lessen as his body-heated fleece warmed Vicky's chilled form. Daniel remembered how cold he had felt at first, and wondered what else he could do to bring her temperature back up. Vicky moaned softly, then opened her eyes.  
  
"Dios!" She promptly threw herself over the edge of the bed and vomited. Daniel could only offer comforting words as spasm after spasm shook her. One hand rested consolingly on her forehead, the other rubbed gently across her back. When there was nothing more to come and she lay exhausted against him he pulled a corner from the bedding and wiped her mouth before drawing her close, adding his body warmth to hers. She was praying softly in Spanish, begging the gods to deliver her from her torment. Daniel knew that no god was going to help them for he remembered the panel and its contents. This was a place of punishment, and they were prisoners.  
  
***  
  
"Go back. O'Neill," Teal'c ordered. Then pointed to a set of photographs from a mission six weeks before. "That is the design from my father's stone."  
  
"But you told me Daniel didn't recognise the symbols, right?"  
  
"That is correct. But I do not believe Daniel Jackson has seen these images. This is from SG6 first trip to P39 555. They found no existing civilisation."  
  
"Then this is Daniel's 'things to do' file, which makes sense of some of the other stuff in here." Jack paused; flicking through is memory like a filing cabinet. "But didn't he go out there with them on that one? Wasn't that the trip he fell down a hole of something? Russell found him out cold near a temple. I remember Doc Fraiser had him in the infirmary for days after that one."  
  
"I believe you are correct, O'Neill. This is most strange. Daniel Jackson's memory is rarely at fault."  
  
Jack grabbed the internal phone and dialled quickly. "General, is Major Russell on base right now? Great, can you get him down to Daniel's office? I have a whole bunch of questions for him."  
  
Things were not going so well in Sam's lab. For two minutes the block had given off a steady glow, highlighting the symbols and sending the data banks crazy, then it had stopped and had not returned. That had been fifteen minutes before and Sam was getting anxious. She thought she knew what was going on, but without more data she was just making a stab in the dark. Taking the last report from the printer she headed to the infirmary. Perhaps Janet could confirm or repudiate what she thought was happening. In a way she dearly hoped she was wrong.  
  
SG11 had just returned through the Stargate and Janet was busy organising tests, analysing results and didn't hear Sam approach until the major touched her shoulder.  
  
"Janet, I really need you to look at this for me. Is this what I think it is?"  
  
The two women scanned the print out, then exchanged a solemn look. "This is from the block?" Janet queried.  
  
Sam nodded. "It's aimed at the cerebral cortex isn't it? But this line here, that's not usual, is it?"  
  
"No," the doctor said slowly. "But I have seen it before. Wait one moment."  
  
Within minutes she had returned and held in her hand Daniel Jackson's scan from six weeks previous. "Remember Daniel was concussed a few weeks back? This is the scan I took then. I put this down to the concussion but now…"  
  
"I'd better tell the colonel and General Hammond. Thanks Janet."  
  
Knowing what the emission was was one thing, figuring out what it was doing and how Daniel was involved was something else again. Hurrying down the hall Sam heard voices from Daniel's lab, and turned her footsteps that way. The room was crowded, Jack, Teal'c and Major Russell were huddled around Daniel's computer screen. Behind them stood General Hammond, barking out question after question.  
  
"That's the symbol!"  
  
"We know, Carter. We know. Seems Daniel was left to his own devices, "Jack sent a cold look at Russell's shuttered face, "while Russell and his team did a recon. When they got back, they found him face down, out cold at the bottom of this thing." On the screen was a tall set of steps of pyramid shape, leading up to what had to be an altar. On its side, just under an oval depression, was the symbol that had by now burned itself into Sam's memory.  
  
"We thought he'd fallen, tripped coming down the stairs. He had a few bruises but no broken bones. Didn't even wake up until we got him back through the 'gate. We hadn't found a hint of a living being, just some more ruins and a couple of animals. They didn't run, so we figured that there was no one left to scare them. There was no indication of any outside interference."  
  
O'Neill kept his basilisk gaze fixed on the unfortunate major, silent accusation written across his face. Even though he knew Daniel could get himself into trouble without any help from anyone else, he was damned if he would forgive Russell for not keeping both eyes on a member of his team.  
  
"Major, you have any good news?" Hammond's southern accent resounded around the small room.  
  
"News? Yes. Whether it's good I don't know, General." She laid the readouts on the desk, covering the stone handled knife that Jack had fiddled with just days before.  
  
"These signals are aimed at the brain, to specific areas of the brain. Janet recognised this line here." She overlaid Daniel's scan from the incident. A perfect match.  
  
"Sophisticated brain washing? Is that what you are saying?"  
  
"If it is, then I don't know how it is affecting him, or why it didn't affect any of SG6 in any way. And why was that same emission being broadcast from somewhere in Belize? I'm sorry, sir, I just don't know how to interpret the intentions behind them." Her frustration was mirrored by everyone in the room.  
  
"Daniel Jackson was living through nightmares."  
  
"What?" Jack sat up straighter in his chair and turned to the man looming over him. "He was what?"  
  
"It was written in his eyes. I have seen it once before on the face of the judged."  
  
"Don't just throw these things at us for Christ's sake! Who was judged, and for what?"  
  
"Just hold on a minute, Colonel." The general took a pace closer. "Teal'c explain."  
  
"I was but a small child when my father took me to a tribunal. One of the lords had recently returned from punishment. My father told me the dreams were terrible and would eventually kill the Goa'uld within the host. His eyes reflected his torment. The last time I saw Daniel Jackson I saw that same torment."  
  
"Then why the hell didn't you try to stop him!" O'Neill's anger touched everyone in the room, except the statue-like Jaffa.  
  
"A man's demons must be fought alone."  
  
"That's it! That…" Jack couldn't find the words to express his inner rage. Sometimes the damn Jaffa code left him close to violence at its incomprehensible cruelty.  
  
"Colonel."  
  
Hammond's tone brought him back. "You have a go. I'll arrange transportation to meet you out there. Major, pinpoint the area. You'll have to get yourselves there; I won't involve civilians in this. " His pale blue eyes captured theirs. "Bring him back, and do what you have to. Just do it quietly."  
  
***  
  
Vicky had slept again, and for a while Daniel had kept her wrapped in his arms, trying to keep her warm, though she shivered still. When at last the shudders stopped he untangled himself from her and made his way back to the panels on the wall. In each was set out the same edict. That the person within the walls had transgressed against his god and that his punishment was just and right.  
  
Making his way to the opening, Daniel stopped inches away from the apparently harmless portal. Tentatively he stretched out one hand, moving it forward centimetre by centimetre until his fingers had passed through to the corridor beyond. He waved his hand back and forth, then with a deep breath, took one step forward, then another until he stood outside the room, looking back at Vicky asleep on the bed. Too easy, too damn easy. Under his feet he could feel the slightest vibration, the barest hint of movement. A space ship then, as he recognised the sensation from too many trips on board alien vessels.  
  
Making his way cautiously along the corridor, Daniel felt each step as it reverberated through him. The pain in his skull hadn't lessened at all - in fact it appeared to be getting worse. Dark images seemed to flicker just outside of his field of vision, blurring his sight for an instant. Ahead of him, the corridor seemed to run forever as it suddenly narrowed and extended into the distance like a reflection in a trick mirror. Closing his eyes against the distorted vision, he felt another wave of nausea creeping up. And then, like a tidal wave, the images hit. His most recurrent nightmare bloomed to life in his head. Even opening his eyes didn't stop it from playing out in all its agonising details. All around him the darkness of his dream quenched the corridor's bright lights, he could feel the weapon in his hand, could smell the faint mustiness of dank tunnels as he fought his way forward. Enemies surrounded them; Sam, Teal'c and Jack were right behind him, yelling at him to pick up the pace. Out of the darkness a Jaffa warrior leapt in front of him, staff weapon blazing. Daniel fired, taking the man's head from his shoulders. As the helmet fell away, Jack's face stared up at him.  
  
"No! God, no!"  
  
***  
  
It was the murmur of voices that brought Daniel back to consciousness. The soft melodic tones of ancient Mayan, that he recognised from… no, he couldn't remember from where but the words made sense, and that was all that mattered.  
  
The pain in his head had not abated while he had slept, and sitting up became a trial of mind over body. Never one to take the easy path, he pushed himself upright and let his eyes wander the room.  
  
"You're awake!" Vicky's soft voice thundered through his head, and he winced with the added pain.  
  
Standing at the doorway, the alien he had seen twice before was observing him with grave concern. Ever willing to give someone the benefit of the doubt, Daniel made a move to stand and introduce himself once more.  
  
"Be still." The words were softly spoken, and yet the order was implicit in the tone. Daniel was surprised to find that he could not move - that his limbs refused to co-operate in any way.  
  
Vicky moved to his side, her eyes reflecting unease and wonder. "Chak found you in the corridor and brought you back here. You were… talking wildly. You've been unconscious for over an hour."  
  
Normally active brain cells seemed swamped in fog at that moment. Daniel knew he should recognise the name, Chak, and yet nothing would come to the surface of his foggy brain. A system lord? He doubted it. He had yet to meet the Goa'uld whose pride and arrogance didn't enter the room five minutes before he arrived. This tall, serene being gave off none of that self-importance.  
  
"Who…?" It hit again, washing over him like larva down the side of a volcano. Cool marble under his feet, subdued lighting over his head as his parents supervised the reconstruction of the little temple. In his head he screamed a warning, but his childhood self didn't hear, couldn't relay the alarm that he so desperately wanted to raise.  
  
It stopped as suddenly as it began. Snapping back to the room, Daniel could only gasp in air as his body showed its displeasure by setting his heart pounding almost to destruction.  
  
Vicky's arms were around him, holding him tightly against her. Chak's long fingers pressed against his temples as though trying to burrow into the grey matter just millimetres under the skull. Struggling against them both, Chak's barked command stilled him once again.  
  
As he finally relaxed in their hold, Chak removed his hands from Daniel's face and Vicky's arms lessened their vice-like grip of his torso.  
  
"What the hell was that?"  
  
Chak moved from his side. "Rest. We will talk when you have recovered."  
  
"No! No. Please. Stay. I need to know what is happening to me. The dreams have never… I need to know."  
  
"He can be very stubborn." Though she spoke the ancient language, he caught the words. They knew nothing about this alien, and Vicky was hardly the trusting sort, but there had been no fear in Vicky's tone, nothing but deep respect, awe even. Whatever had occurred while he had been out for the count it had not inspired fear, that was for sure.  
  
"Chak? I won't be able to rest until I understand what has been happening to me. If you know the answers."  
  
"Human's were ever curious, but your curiosity must wait. I have things to attend to. You should be safe for a while yet."  
  
No amount of pleading touched Chak and Daniel was left frustrated and a little frightened at the sudden turn of events.  
  
"Talk to me, Vicky. What the hell happened while I was out of it? You seem to have hit it off with our host." Daniel's eyes flicked to the still open doorway.  
  
She took a place beside him, hands clasped in her lap as she thought through what had happened. As a scholar herself, Daniel knew she would put the evidence to him in proper order.  
  
"I remember the temple, the flash of lightning and pain, then nothing until I woke here, spewing my guts up." She shuddered at the memory. "Thank you, by the way. I know it wasn't pleasant, but you made it a little more bearable." Her hand reached for his, then was quickly withdrawn before they touched.  
  
"When I next woke up, you were gone. I thought I had been dreaming but then I heard your voice calling from outside the doorway. You sounded…" Vicky kept her eyes averted from his gaze. "You were distressed, calling out a warning. By the time I reached you K'inich Ahaw was standing over you, I though the Jaguar was attacking you and yet you seemed physically unhurt."  
  
The mist within his mind was gradually lifting and studies from long ago were rapidly coming to the fore. He remembered the legend of K'inich Ahaw, who in the depths of night travelled beneath the earth as the Jaguar God of the Underworld. Fearsome name for Chak's Jaguar to live up to. As was Chak, he mused, nodding to Vicky to continue.  
  
"Then Chak came. He laid his hand upon you and you became quiet again." Her eyes finally rose to his. "I hold to no religious beliefs Doctor Jackson, but his touch seemed miraculous to me. This place… I don't understand where we are, or who Chak is, but he has taken the name of one of my ancestors most treasured Gods. "  
  
"Pre-Conquest, right? Well that little trick with the lightning makes sense, wasn't that his trademark? I'm a little rusty on the Mayan pantheon. At least he was benevolent, let's hope he lives up to his name!"  
  
The pain that had subsided to a negligible ache while they spoke was starting to crank upwards again. A sudden and unreasoning fear flashed through Daniel as presentiment struck.  
  
"Vicky!" But his voice disappeared into the nightmare that was now riding him into emotional torture. He was kneeling at Sha're's grave, uttering the words that her people believed would send her soul to everlasting peace. Only he knew better, didn't he? He knew that the gods that the Abydonians worshipped were no more than parasitic aliens. Word by word, he spoke the hymn to the gods; weighed the feather against her soul and felt his own soul dying within him. The scene switched to the jail in Apophis' palace and once again he watched as his beloved wife was dragged screaming from him. Tears wracked him as anger and desolation warred for prominence.  
  
And then it was over. Chak's fingers were on his face once more, Vicky stood to one side her eyes brimming with unshed tears. With the last of his strength, Daniel caught the alien's arm in a death-like grip. "You will tell me what is happening to me," even as terror at the rapid breakdown of his mind gripped him.  
  
***  
  
Jack had taken point on the last leg of their trek up into the jungle. Around them the dense foliage could have hidden an army of Jaffa without a problem. They were all edgy; anticipation and anxiety were not good companions on any mission, especially one into territory none of them were familiar with.  
  
"O'Neill!"  
  
Teal'c's sudden shout stopped them in their tracks. Returning to where the Jaffa had been bringing up the rear, they all looked at the signs of an abandoned camp that he had spotted. An altar stood a little way back from the track and beyond that the blackened remains of a small fire, and indications of at least two persons having been there.  
  
"How long?"  
  
"Four or five days, maybe. Animals have been here, destroying the evidence. I can not be more precise."  
  
"Anything that would indicate Daniel had been here?" Carter unknowingly echoed Jack's thoughts.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
They moved on, more alert now. Scanning the area from both sides. The emissions had been pinpointed to a few square miles before they had suddenly stopped. And a few square miles in this sort of terrain meant a possibly long search.  
  
Sunlight burst in upon them as they turned a tight corner in the track and found themselves just a few hundred yards away from what had once been an imposing gateway set in massive walls. The signs of recent destruction was evident in the freshly blasted walls, the untempered stone that lay belly up in every direction. Slightly off the trail Teal'c found the remains of a camp buried under rubble that had been blown with great force from the temple remains.  
  
Once tidy packs had been split asunder, spilling clothes and personal belongings across the ground. Daniel's wooden box had been blown clear, though the delicate instruments now littered the area. They searched quickly and thoroughly, uppermost in their minds the thought of Daniel and his companion buried beneath one of the massive blocks, bleeding to death or maybe beyond their help.  
  
They found nothing more until Sam, edging her way around the largest fragment came to a halt, her eyes glued to her find. There, with one lens fractured, lay Daniel's glasses. She felt a lump in her throat, and had to take more than one deep breath before she could trust her voice to call the others over. Jack stared at the broken spectacles for a moment, then bent down, retrieved them and tucked them into his breast pocket.  
  
"Let's try inside the temple. We know he was here, we know he wasn't alone. Let's move."  
  
Inside the temple the devastation was even worse as though it had taken the full force of whatever destructive device had done the damage. The epicentre of the fallout was in the centre of the compound.  
  
"I guess this is where the altar would have been. This place is laid out exactly as the temple on P39 555…" Carter's words were halted as she and O'Neill watched Teal'c's sudden jog forward into the ruined altar. He bent and retrieved something from the ground then made his way slowly toward them.  
  
Holding out his hand, Teal'c revealed the broken pieces of the stone that his father had bequeathed to him and which in turn he had presented to Daniel Jackson. Shattered pieces, all sharp edges and broken design lay on his large palm. But inside the fragments lay tiny pieces of wire and circuit that had been secreted within its depths, unknown to any of them.  
  
"This is the stone I gave to Daniel Jackson."  
  
"What the… Carter?"  
  
"It's a trigger of some sort, Colonel. One half of a connection. You can just see the electrodes here, and here."  
  
"But what does it do?"  
  
Sam let her gaze fall on the massive destruction all around them, a bleak look in her eyes. "Perhaps we should search here, sir."  
  
*** 


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: Sorry for the delay folks, my beta has horrible RL probs. So, instead of waiting any longer, this will be going up with all its mistakes firmly intact. Please ignore any errant comma's etc g I'll post again when it's back. And I will put up the final part in a couple of days.  
  
  
  
Chapter 7  
  
"Doctor Jackson, you need to rest. Try to sleep," Vicky pleaded with him. But he would not release Chak's arm.  
  
"You have to tell me what is wrong with me!" Long ago he had given up worrying about his physical safety, though never to the detriment of those around him, but this sudden descent into total meltdown scared him more than he wanted to admit, even to himself. While the nightmares had been uncomfortable to his inner self, what was happening now hurt both mind and body. His chest ached from the last bout and a sensation of pins and needles tingled in his hands.  
  
Chak sighed, removed Daniel's hand from his sleeve and stood. "I will bring refreshments for us all, and then you will have your explanation. Your mind reveals many things."  
  
Daniel forced himself upright again, taking slow breaths to ease the band of pain that wrapped around his chest. Vicky's pale face watched him anxiously. He'd brought her in to this without thought to her safety. That first incident with the stones should have been warning enough to get out, to call in a team from the SGC; his overwhelming curiosity had brought her to this. And how the hell did he explain Chak, this ship? Damn the rules, she had to know who he was, what he did if she had any chance of understanding this whole fiasco. If he didn't make it through this… he pushed the thought aside, he was a realist yes, but he didn't want to think about failure yet.  
  
"Vicky, we need to talk; about Chak, about a lot of things. And I know some of this is going to sound a little unbelievable, but it's not, I assure you. I may be losing it here, but what I am about to tell you is not one of my nightmares." He scooted along the bed a little way, making room for her. "You might want to sit down for this."  
  
She settled a few inches away from him, anxious eyes on his drawn face.  
  
"Right, where to begin. Ah, you remember that talk I gave back in Washington, aliens building the pyramids, the fact that we had been visited before?"  
  
Her slow nod told him he was about to lose her before he had even begun. He hurried on.  
  
"Well I was right, only not quite the way I thought. Millennia ago a race built a network of transportation devices, which we call Stargates. I managed to decipher the code on one of them and, long story short, the people I work for travel through these gates to different worlds, all over the galaxy."  
  
"Doctor Jackson, look you should really rest, I know this probably seems real to you right now but…"  
  
"Damn it, Vicky." His breath caught painfully in his chest as he inhaled too deeply. "I know it sounds insane, but it's not. Chak isn't from around here that's for sure. Have you ever seen anything like this place? The glyphs we found in the temple, the reason they had never been seen before was because they do not belong here on Earth."  
  
"A lost language, it's happened before!"  
  
She didn't want to believe, he knew that; no one who had not seen, nor stepped through, the gate wanted to believe. Okay there were a few out there who did, but boy did they not know the half of it, and would be scared witless if they knew the truth.  
  
"Your companion speaks truly. There are many peoples outside this place, we have travelled far and met many, but this world has long been abandoned by all. Too primitive."  
  
Chak had returned so quietly that neither Daniel nor Vicky had heard his approach. Vicky looked at him with disbelief.  
  
Daniel grinned ruefully. "We are too young according to the Nox, and the Asgard for that matter. Maybe they are right, still it's too late now, we are out there among the stars making mischief, though we try not to."  
  
"Human's were ever curious." Chak nodded in agreement.  
  
Vicky looked from one to the other. "You are joking with me aren't you? This isn't real, you are not an alien, right?"  
  
"I am Furling as you are Human."  
  
Daniel's head snapped up. "One of the four? But that's incredible. The Asgard wouldn't tell us anything about you, the Nox the same, the whole 'too young' thing I suppose, but..."  
  
Pain lanced through his head sending him nose-diving for the floor, unable to resist or repel the force of gravity.  
  
The Unas before him accepted the zat gun with delight, and he watched the creature head with speed toward the town, knowing the destruction and loss of life that was about to occur lay totally at his door. Jack's amazed gaze rested on him, but he didn't feel the need to justify his actions. In his head he could hear the screams as the humans ran for their lives; he could smell the blood in the air, feel the hatred. Accusing faces thrust into his nightmare, children, women, all pointing at him, accusing him.  
  
"Come back Doctor Jackson." Chak's voice was loud in his mind. He had heard it before calling him away from the darkness. Try as he might he could not open his eyes, could not stop the torment. Over and over Chak called his name, until Daniel felt something pulling at his mind. With a gasp he bolted upright, heart racing, pain lancing down his arms and across his torso.  
  
"The human body is too frail for this trial. It was not meant to be." Chak's concern made Daniel shiver. This being was one of the four races, with technology way beyond their own, and a store of knowledge far surpassing anything Earth could claim. If he thought that this was life threatening then he was in big trouble.  
  
"Tell me how, why, anything to help me understand this," Daniel gasped between shuddering breaths.  
  
"Very well. I will tell you what I can. Save your breath and listen to me, ask questions if you must when I am finished."  
  
Chak waited for Daniel's nod before continuing. "My race are, as you may have gathered, telepathic. Many cycles ago we took on the burden of justice among the lesser races. We were judge jury and sometimes executioner. With the rise of the Goa'uld we built the temples. It is not something I am proud of, but my ancestors did what they thought was right. No one was put to death, but made to face the ultimate trial. They were made to face their worst nightmares with no hope of remission. To live in perpetual fear. The trial was for the Goa'uld, not the host, but they suffered too. Long years have passed since we set out to destroy every last temple."  
  
"If it was aimed at the Goa'uld and not the host why am I infected? And how?"  
  
"Who are the Goa'uld? Look, I know you two believe all of this but I don't… I can't."  
  
It was Chak who answered her question with one of his own. "I can show you who they are if you will permit me?"  
  
"You mean telepathically? I don't know. I…"  
  
Daniel touched her arm gently. "Let him show you. Believe him. The Furlings are one of the oldest races in the galaxy. But then you probably don't believe that either. God, I'm not sure I know what I believe any more."  
  
Hazel eyes studied him for a long moment, and he kept his eyes on hers, trying to give her the assurance she sought. Slowly she nodded and turned to Chak.  
  
"Okay. I'll go along with this - for now. I don't promise to be convinced though."  
  
"Sit down and try to relax." Chak's long slender fingers touched her temples lightly. "Contact with the subject makes the images more tangible. Do not be afraid, they will not harm you in any way."  
  
Daniel watched curiously as Vicky visibly relaxed under the Furling's touch, her eyes drifted shut after a moment and he gave himself over to the luxury of studying her classic profile. Even with her hair damp from her recent illness, her face still pale, there was no denying the temptation of high cheekbones and almond shaped eyes that glowed with intelligence.  
  
He watched her flinch as some image burned into her mind. Sliding along the bed, he took her hand in his. Daniel did not doubt her courage, but the Goa'uld were unpleasant on a good day, who knew what effect they would have on her susceptible intelligence.  
  
As their fingers made contact, Daniel found he could vaguely pick up on the images being sent to Vicky. Some of the Goa'uld he was familiar with; there was Hathor, not one of his favourites, and Horus, Seth and Apophis, Osiris and on and on. Chak named each one and their deeds, their lineage. Of those he had yet to meet, Daniel took particular note. Mentally reminding himself to let the SGC know about them. The thought took a while to filter into his traumatised brain, but it seemed he had decided, somewhere along the way, that whatever happened he would return. Providing he survived, he thought ruefully.  
  
This time the attack hit without warning. Plunged into absolute darkness, Daniel felt around him for some sort of contact. It didn't matter what, a wall, a door anything. With one foot carefully extended, he inched forward. Under his boots he could feel the cold hardness of concrete or metal. With every sense extended he could hear nothing, could smell nothing, could see nothing, only the feel of his foot moving over the ground allowed him to know he was alive. And then his boot came into contact with something soft. Dropping to his knees, he felt forward, hands coming into contact with warm skin, a face. The soft sigh of a breath touched his fingers as they skirted over the unseen features, female features he realised with a jolt. Lights suddenly snapped on all around him, blinding him for an instant. When his vision cleared he looked down. Vicky lay dead at his feet, her chest ripped open exposing a gaping wound, opposite him Apophis grinned, eyes blazing gold fire.  
  
"No!"  
  
Daniel came to with a jolt, the pain intense, vision blurred, pulse racing. He was still sitting on the bed, Vicky's hand still in his, though his grip had tightened until her fingers had turned white with the pressure.  
  
He sat gasping for breath for a long moment, then raised his head slowly locking eyes with the Furling. "I'm not sure what's going to go first, my heart or my brain… finish telling me how this happened, while I still have some of my faculties working."  
  
"Very well. When I was first in your mind I searched for any hint that you were Goa'uld, for only they should have had access to the temples, only they had the summoning stones, we had retrieved all others. But you were not a host, nor had you ever been one. However I saw that you have, on many occasions, spent time in one of their regenerative devices. The alteration to you systems was subtle yet damaging."  
  
"I know, believe me, I know. That's another thing I have nightmares about." Daniel's mouth tilted into a tight smile that vanished in a second.  
  
"I believe this abuse of your body and mind has left your system open to the power within the temple altars. You have touched one before."  
  
"No, I don't think I have… I think I would remember coming across something like your temple."  
  
Chak's touch was feather light and yet in that gentle caress Daniel saw once again the huge structure, heard Russell tell him to be careful, and then he had climbed up to the top, his hands resting on the symbol carved into the huge block.  
  
"The residue within the stone caused you to black out and wipe the memory from your conscious mind. It was another reason to destroy the temples, and now I know where this one is, it too will perish."  
  
"And that touch set off this whole nightmare thing?"  
  
"You were susceptible, you already held too many memories in dark places, the altar acted as a catalyst. If you had been Goa'uld the effect would have been instantaneous."  
  
Silence held them. Vicky, understanding a little of what Daniel had spent the last years fighting, watched him anxiously. Chak, calm and serene, waited for the next question.  
  
"Why has it become so much more advanced? Why now? And can we stop this?"  
  
"You sent the signal that requested a judge. Somehow one of the stones was in your possession. Once triggered the temple becomes a place of great power. The devices within the structure are aimed at certain key places within the Goa'uld brain. Whatever fears you held on walking within the barriers would be heightened greatly. It is for the judge to decide how sentence should be carried out and for how long."  
  
"Then you can stop this? You came, you are the judge - release him!" Vicky grabbed Chak's arm, trying to enforce her desperate request.  
  
"I can not. Humans were not meant for this trial. I can limit the damage, I can perhaps bring Daniel Jackson back from the depths of his nightmares, but his body is weak." Deep black eyes rested on Daniel's panicked blue. "Only you can stop them."  
  
"God, if I knew how don't you think I'd have done it by now!"  
  
"Perhaps," Chak said slowly.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" Daniel could feel his anger growing; did they really think he wanted this?  
  
"The seeds of destruction are within every being, Goa'uld, Human and Furling alike. It is the belief we have in ourselves that holds back despair; that keeps us sane and whole. If you no longer believe in yourself, Daniel Jackson, you will be beyond help."  
  
It was so hard to keep his thoughts together, so difficult to hold back the utter exhaustion that wanted to take him. Daniel's head dropped slowly.  
  
"Damn you, Daniel, fight this thing!" Vicky's voice, loud and abrasive, acted like a douse of cold water on him.  
  
"With what? You think I don't understand that my fears are going to kill me? Well better me than someone else. Do you have any idea what it's like going out, mission after mission, knowing that I could bring disaster at any time? That my attention might wander at the wrong moment, that Jack and the others have to have one eye on the job and one on me, because I don't think the way they do?"  
  
"Are you telling me that you've never been there for them, that you are some, some millstone around their neck? Crap! If that were the case they'd have tossed you out long ago. I don't know these people you work with, but if they are military then they won't endanger any unit unnecessarily. And don't tell me they couldn't find someone else to do your job." She pre- empted his rebuttal, one finger stabbing hard into his chest. "They could bring you out if they needed you, or take someone else; you're not the only linguist with your …whatever you are."  
  
"You don't understand," Daniel replied wearily. "Jack looks on me as his pet project. A pain the ass, but his pain in the ass. I'm part of SG1, and that makes me his responsibility. So he puts up with my distractions, he makes allowances for my moral stands, except when they go against his ideas. He thinks he understands me."  
  
Vicky turned her exasperated gaze to the Furling standing impassively at their side.  
  
"Can't you help him see he's not some albatross around his friend's neck?"  
  
Chak studied the weary archaeologist with clinical detachment, as though thinking through a puzzle to be solved.  
  
"It might be done. I could try to bring out different memories, initiate different thought processes. It might be painful, and it would be intrusive."  
  
Daniel snorted softly, "What don't you know about me by now? You've been in there often enough."  
  
"I have only seen what you have allowed me to see, after my initial scan. If you resisted, I could do permanent harm to you."  
  
"You mean more harm than my brain exploding with these damn images I can't get out of my head? Right now I think I'll take my chances."  
  
Chak moved away from the bed and Daniel's tense figure. Slowly he circled the room; eyes half closed as he thought through his decision, aware that two pairs of anxious eyes watched his every move.  
  
"Very well. It is in part my fault that this has happened to you, I will do what I can to remedy the situation. Though I give no guarantee of success. Do you agree?"  
  
Panic gripped Daniel. He was about to lay out his whole self to an alien who may or may not understand the judgements he had made. Letting a stranger into his innermost thoughts, fears and treasured memories. Chak would have access to those moments between himself and Sha're that had kept him sane when the task of finding her had become seemingly impossible. Could he let anyone see the side of him that walked in darkness? Reveal the petty jealousies that had been his world long before the SGC? Did he have a choice?  
  
"You have a choice, Daniel Jackson," Chak spoke directly into his mind. "You alone can turn from the path of self destruction. I can show you what you need to know about yourself…if you wish to be turned?"  
  
"Do it. Do it before another nightmare hits me and I don't get the chance to make a choice again."  
  
"Then lay down, relax as much as you can and let me walk freely through your thoughts. Do not worry that what I see will make me judge you, it will not."  
  
Vicky slid off the bed and gave Daniel room to lay down once more. Chak came to stand at his head, his long fingers embracing the wide forehead under his touch.  
  
Bright blue eyes locked onto the ceiling, noting for the first time that the lights had dimmed once again, and were casting shadows across the undecorated metalwork.  
  
The living nightmare took him, swamping him in sensations. A zat rested lightly in his hand, around him lay the remnants of Amaunet's guard. The glowing eyes of his wife's symbiot glared at him. The zat blasted through Sha're sending her tumbling to the ground. Grief took him in its welcoming embrace as he screamed his loss.  
  
But this wasn't what happened, this isn't how it ended!  
  
A voice, distant yet compelling, seemed to call to him, and the images faded leaving him at once glad and yet bereft.  
  
For a moment nothing seemed to be happening and then, like the feel of tiny insects crawling inside his skull, Daniel felt the Furling's mind enter his.  
  
Chak's voice echoed within his skull as his life appeared before his mind's eye in bursts of light and sound. Emotions flashed through him as each image stopped briefly for Chak's perusal. Terror, love, laughter, passion, anger, the whole gamut ran within him, cycling over and over. Daniel could feel himself losing control, trying to pull back even though the memory of Chak's warning rang loudly in his head.  
  
Daniel's hands clenched into the soft bedding as his body arched in pain. The conflict between his conscious and unconscious mind sending waves of agony through his already tortured body.  
  
Vicky had taken up a position on the other side of the bed and his hand was now clasped between the two of hers as she watched Furling and Human joining - though he was unaware of the fact.  
  
"You are tenacious, Daniel Jackson, that is good. You fight hard for your beliefs and your friends." Like a commentary Chak's soft tones talked over the images now formed in Daniel's mind. Teal'c sat in the centre of the judgement room, facing Cora Ai. Determined to accept his punishment even as Daniel advocated that he was not the same man who had committed the act of murder so many years before. He had pleaded well, made a case for leniency that should have swayed any courtroom.  
  
"But I didn't save him." Daniel found that he had a voice within his own mind. "All that I tried to do that day was for nothing. If the Goa'uld hadn't attacked Teal'c would be dead now. He saved himself by his selfless actions. By being who he is now. I did nothing."  
  
"I see you do not value yourself at all. What of your advocacy of Skaara? Did you not sway the decision for his dominance?" Chak brought forth the image of the Tollan world. Lord Zapatna and his Goa'uld guards sat opposite Jack and himself. Behind them he knew Lya listened attentively to all that was said. His anxiety for his wife's brother had made that trial an ordeal that he never wanted to face again. He had lost Sha're, he knew how much the young man meant to Jack and he was family. And once again he had battened down his emotions, left himself cold inside so that he could function.  
  
"I did nothing. Skaara spoke well, Lya took note of his arguments not mine."  
  
"Perhaps I should add stubborn to curious? The Nox judge all without prejudice. Believe me, Lya listened to you, and judged your words. Let us move on then, perhaps to your team leader. You believe that you have no influence on him, that he has to 'look out for you' on every mission? And yet you have saved his life more than once. Without you he would not be alive, is that not so?"  
  
Daniel moved uneasily on the bed not sure what image Chak had found. And then he was standing in the observation room, four in the morning, unable to sleep. Behind him a faint hum, in front of him a glass of water that suddenly began to shudder and the realisation that somewhere on Earth his two friends were trying desperately to get home.  
  
"Do you know how long it took me to figure that out? God, they almost died because my brain couldn't get around the concept more quickly! Jack was in the infirmary for over a week, Sam nearly lost some of her toes from frostbite. If I had only got…"  
  
"Daniel Jackson!" Chak's thoughts overrode those of the archaeologist. "Is it not a fact that had you not been there, if you had not given up your rest in order to think about your friend's predicament, then they would now be dead?"  
  
"I guess," Daniel agreed with reluctance.  
  
The Furling began skipping through memories again, and Daniel could not find a rhythm to his choices. His body fought back, trying to deny Chak access to the darkest corners of his mind as he probed ever deeper. Pain lanced across his chest and down his arms, his fingers almost crushing Vicky's hand as he battled against the intrusion though he was unaware of her at that moment, just the pain in his body and mind. Back and forth his life jumped from memory to memory, some good, some that he would rather have not seen again. Finally Chak settled on the Enkara.  
  
Jack was standing in front of him, angry, desperate. 'Give me another option, Daniel.' And he had tried. Lotan had been one of his biggest challenges. He had talked a machine into going against its programming. Had used his skills as a mediator, as someone who had studied and understood different cultures to save not just the Enkaran, but the Gadmir too.  
  
"Two civilisations owe you their very existence. Is that not worth living for? Would it not be a betrayal of both races to let your fears take you away from those who might need you? Would any other member of your team have done as you have done? Could any other member of your SGC have brought about such an outcome? "  
  
"I don't know…" Daniel murmured. "Jack didn't want to blow up the ship, not in his heart… I think." His uncertainty tried to rule his knowledge that he had made a difference, that he had done what was right and had rescued the Enkaran from certain destruction.  
  
"But if you had not been there then both races might have died." The positive tone began to make an impression on him and for the first time he felt some slight relaxation in his body. The pain across his chest seemed to lessen a fraction, allowing him to breathe more easily.  
  
Chak pressed home his advantage. "And you have compassion for the one as well as the many, do you not? Even to your enemy."  
  
Apophis lay restrained against the hospital bed. Leather straps held him at wrist and ankle and neck. And yet it was not Apophis who spoke now but the terrified host who had been enslaved hundreds of years before. Daniel watched again as the poor wretch struggled to understand what had happened to him. He had spoken to him, trying to ease his passing the best he knew how. Promising to perform the rites of passage, to see that his body was laid to rest in Egypt. Promises that he knew he could not keep. But he had fulfilled his final promise, to send the statue that held the dying man's last breath to his home, to be buried with honour in the hot sands. He had performed the act himself, taking the clay statue up into the foothills in the heat of the midday sun, when no one would be around to see what he did. He had spoken the words required by the ancient man's religion and had put the host's last breath deep into the sand. Hammond had not wanted to let him go, Jack had looked at him as though he were nuts, but he had made a promise, many promises, this one he could honour, and he had.  
  
This was one good thing that he could accept. Listening to the reasonable tones of his conscious mind Daniel knew that he had to believe, that he had to acknowledge that yes, he had done good things in his life, that there were some things that no one, least of all Daniel Jackson, could affect. If he could not accept that then this was going to be the end. Daniel forced himself to relax, releasing his deadly grip on his mind, allowing the gentle probe of Chak's mind free reign.  
  
"Ah…" Chak's explorations had found the planet now known to the SGC as 'Ernest's planet'. The official designation belonging only to the files and reports buried with all the other mission logs somewhere deep in Cheyenne Mountain.  
  
Pain lanced through his head as another wave of blackness took control.  
  
"Fight it, Daniel Jackson. It exists only because you allow it to rule you. You are not a slave to your dark imaginings. Fight it. Return to yourself."  
  
It seemed to Daniel that a brilliant burst of light blinded his vision, when it cleared his mind had returned once more to that fascinating room where so much knowledge had been stored. He had done that! He had stopped the destruction from overwhelming him. As the realisation sank in so the pain seeped from him, and he felt almost euphoric within the sense of liberation his own belief engendered.  
  
All around him the writings of the ancients; above, the dancing lights that gave a new concept the whole 'meaning of life' question that had been driving humans crazy for centuries. Beside him stood the scrawny figure of Ernest Littlefield whose life had been spent in solitary contemplation of the vast library.  
  
"So it is lost then. We had no time to salvage all that had been gathered." Chak's voice was sad, contemplative in Daniel's thoughts. "Yes, Daniel Jackson, we will talk of this later. Come back now."  
  
Daniel's eyes opened slowly almost blinded by the subdued lighting. Every inch of him ached as though he had been in one hell of a fight. Becoming aware of Vicky's hands wrapped around his he turned to her, hoping that she had not seen his thoughts as he had seen the images Chak had sent to her mind. A slight welcoming smile hovered around her lips but her eyes were unreadable.  
  
She dropped his hand gently back onto the bed and took a step back. "If you'll excuse me, I need to… I'll be back in a moment." Hurrying out of the room, she ignored Daniel calling her name.  
  
"Did she see any of that?"  
  
Chak nodded slowly. "Your thoughts were very strong, but she would have seen nothing but a shadow of your images. Enough perhaps to understand the terror you were living through. I will talk to her."  
  
"No. No I think I had better do that." With Chak's help he prised himself up from the bed, standing with difficulty. His legs didn't want to hold him up, let alone move but he forced himself across the room and out into the corridor, one hand braced against the wall propping up his weary body. She hadn't got far, but was sitting against the wall arms wrapped around her knees staring blindly into space.  
  
"Vicky?" He inched along the wall, treading carefully.  
  
Vicky leaped up eyes panicked, then she moved toward him, sliding under his arm to add her support.  
  
"What are you doing, Doctor Jackson? You should be resting."  
  
"I thought we got past the whole 'doctor' thing?" Daniel's voice was harsher than he had intended, but he was exhausted and his grip on his emotions right now was perilously close to non-existent.  
  
"You need to rest," she replied. Ignoring his terse comment she urged him back toward the open door where Chak stood watching their interplay with interest.  
  
Daniel used what little strength was left to him to halt her forward movement. "Not until we talk. How much did you see?"  
  
Her arm tightened around his waist for a brief moment, then she let her eyes meet his. "Enough to know I am way out of my depth. Enough to know that I should never have touched you and let your thoughts into mine. I'm sorry Doc… Daniel. I never meant to intrude into your personal life." Her eyes slid from him before she commented softly, "You are a very strong person."  
  
"Yes he is, but his body and mind both need to heal before I can return you to the surface. Will you rest now?"  
  
Daniel felt no coercion beyond the insistence of his own bone tired body.  
  
"We'll talk later?" His fingers gripped into her shoulder, insistent until she nodded her agreement.  
  
Gratefully he accepted their help and within moments of his head hitting the pillow he was asleep, for once not afraid of any dream that might tempt him during those hours between closing his eyes and waking once more.  
  
Vicky's gaze rested on Daniel's pale face, watching as the tension slipped from him, easing the lines around his eyes.  
  
"Is he okay now? Are the dreams over?"  
  
Chak's answer did little to allay Vicky's concerns.  
  
"For a time, perhaps. I have done all that can be done. He is resilient, though he doesn't acknowledge that fact. He will doubt himself again I am sure, then the true test will take place." The Furling nodded to himself.  
  
Vicky's hand reached over to touch the pallid cheek with gentle fingers, not disturbing his slumber. "Is there anything I can do?"  
  
"Be positive, keep his mind away from his terrors if you can. He is past the worst of the trial, but I fear for him should his inner strength not meet the next challenge."  
  
Furling and Human looked on, as Daniel lay oblivious to their concerns. 


	8. Chapter 8

Last piece folks g  
  
  
  
Chapter 8  
  
  
  
Daniel awoke alone feeling rested and hungry. His body still ached abominably, and his chest was tight, but he could live with that. He had, after all, slept without dreaming for the first time in a long while. Sliding quickly off the bed Daniel headed out into the corridor, looking both ways he made his decision and turned right. Coming to a transverse corridor he headed right again, drawn this time by the glyphs upon the decorated wall. Slowing almost to a stop, his eyes raced across the columns of writing, catching an odd word here and there. His hand reached out to touch the wall, tracing the line of almost familiar script.  
  
Vicky's voice startled him from his absorbed perusal of the writings, her approach having been almost silent.  
  
"It's the history of Chak and his family when they were here, on Earth. My ancestors venerated the quadripartite. Still do." Seeing his questioning gaze on her, Vicky continued. "You've been asleep for nearly a day. I've had a bit of time to explore and this wall just…well, called to me I suppose. It took me a while to get the grammar, but it's a fascinating story."  
  
"You translated this while I was asleep?" Daniel couldn't keep the amazement out of his voice. There were few linguists at the SGC who could have even made a dent on this depiction, let alone have translated the whole piece in such a short space of time.  
  
"I was always good at written languages," Vicky replied casually, making light of her outstanding talent. A talent, Daniel realised, that was wasted on part time translating and the odd trek into the Belize jungle.  
  
"You look famished. Chak has food prepared if you want? No coffee I'm afraid," she grinned suddenly obviously remembering his addiction to caffeine, "but there is wine or juice, though I have no idea what it comes from. It's nice though."  
  
Her smile was infectious and he found himself grinning back, surprised and delighted that the strange mood she had been in the night before was gone. Perhaps the fact that she had had time to freshen up while he slept had something to do with it. Although her clothes were crumpled and stained, she had obviously bathed and washed her hair, a gentle clean smell emanated from her. Unconsciously Daniel's hand moved to caress his chin, feeling the stubble rasp against his fingers and there was a not so subtle smell when he raised his arm. What he would give for a hot shower right now.  
  
Like the rest of the ship, the room Vicky led him to was almost bare of decoration, just the functionary table and chairs and the repast laid out for them.  
  
There was no sign of their host as they ate from the provisions laid out for them. Daniel, used to trying all types of food from diverse planets tried everything, and found nearly all of it to his liking. Vicky, following his lead ate heartily.  
  
"So, Vicky, you must have questions, things that you want to know? I'll answer what I can and then I think there is something I need to ask you."  
  
"There's nothing I need to know," she answered quietly, her mood turned solemn once more.  
  
Frustrated Daniel commented, "An historian, archaeologist, linguist with no curiosity? - which is curious in and of itself. Nothing at all? I know you saw something of my dreams, there must be questions you need to ask. Don't you even want to know who the big guy with the gold emblem stuck in his forehead is? Believe me, the first time I saw Teal'c I was seething with questions."  
  
Seeing the hesitation in her eyes he pressed his advantage. "He is a member of the team I told you about."  
  
"A researcher," Vicky said diffidently. "I don't think so. Jaffa right? Slave to the Goa'uld Chak showed me."  
  
"Teal'c is no slave. He turned against his false god and joined SG1. I think you'd like him. He doesn't say much but... well he's a very good friend. Vicky, I don't mind answering any questions you may want to ask. I shouldn't of course, it's all highly classified, but you've seen so much that a bit more can't get me into worse trouble. Besides, I have a proposal for you that might get us both out of hot water."  
  
There was a glint in her eyes that he recognised from fellow archaeologists. A gleam that he hadn't seen in his own eyes for quite a while. "I felt your frustration at the loss of a library? The image wasn't clear, none of them were, but the lights - were they elements? And the writings on the walls, I've never seen anything like them, have you translated any of it yet? And who was the old man?"  
  
Realising he had opened a floodgate Daniel leaned back in his chair and lost himself in answering her questions. Letting a contented happiness ease its way through him, lightening his mind and soul as he gave himself over to his passion for language and history and enjoying the sight of the animated face and sparkling intelligence that sat opposite him.  
  
Hours later Chak's voice startled his two guests so deep in conversation had they been. "It is time for you to return."  
  
"But there is so much I need to know before I leave!" Daniel was up and heading toward the Furling. "The library that we couldn't save, you said we could talk about that. Just let me have one question, please!"  
  
The Furling tipped his head slightly, and amused look in his eyes. "Can a human limit himself to just one question? Can you Daniel Jackson?"  
  
"If I have to… Do I have to?"  
  
"I am afraid so. You are not my only concern and I have stayed here longer than I should. I must return you to the planet and move on. Make your question a good one."  
  
Daniel's mind was racing, there was so much he wanted to know so much this alien, one of the four, could tell him. What to ask, what would gain him the most knowledge?  
  
"I know you said only one, but this could be considered a two-parter, depending on the first answer."  
  
Chak's amusement deepened, and he nodded.  
  
"The library, you said that you couldn't salvage all of the knowledge. Does that mean that there is another library somewhere that houses what you could save? And if so could we possibly access it?"  
  
"Curious, curious race. And persistent too. Yes Daniel Jackson, there is another library of knowledge but it is not for the younger races, not yet."  
  
"The whole too young thing again I suppose." Daniel's voice was tinged with his bitter frustration. "We are out in the universe now Chak. With the knowledge held in your library we could avoid making more mistakes."  
  
"I am sorry. If all of your people had your strength of purpose Daniel Jackson, then I would be less reluctant to share the wealth of our knowledge. There are truths within the library that could cause great harm if used wrongly. Can you guarantee it would not be used so?" He paused and watched Daniel's expressive face grimace. "No, I thought not. But do not be disheartened, there are those who act as guardians to this knowledge, those who you have encountered before. I am sure you will encounter them again."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"No more questions. Come, it is time to leave."  
  
"Ah, just one more question, actually it's more a request. Um, is it going to be such a rough ride back down again?" Daniel's body vividly recalled the terrible side effects of their trip to Chak's ship.  
  
"I am sorry. At that time I thought you were Goa'uld. It will be painless, I assure you."  
  
***  
  
"Colonel?"  
  
Jack drew his gaze back from his contemplation of the jungle all around him. He was frustrated, and anxious. They had spent the last two days quartering the area, hoping against hope that Daniel or his companion had perhaps been hurt by the explosion but had managed to crawl away from the devastation to look for help. There had been nothing for miles in every direction. At night they had slept under the nearest tree, waiting out the darkness, ready to start afresh the moment the sun came up. The track leading up from the site had ended in a small stream, and though there had been signs of occupation around the area, there had been no sign of any recent activity. There was little more they could do except pack up and return to the SGC defeated. The most frustrating part was that there had been no sign not one tiny splash of blood, no fragment of bone or cloth to indicate that Daniel had died in the destruction of the temple. Which in Jack's mind, meant outside interference.  
  
"Sir, I have double checked all my findings. Whatever that emission was it no longer exists. Whatever did this," she indicated the battered ruins behind her, "must have destroyed the emitter."  
  
"Right, Carter." His eyes lost themselves in the greenery once more.  
  
"Night's coming up fast, colonel. Should I set up camp?"  
  
Jack was quiet for a moment, contemplating his failure, then, giving himself a mental kick in the pants, he switched back into military mode.  
  
"Set up over there, Carter. Teal'c, check the perimeter again. I know there's nothing up here but humour me. First light tomorrow we pack up and go home."  
  
Teal'c and Sam understood the frustration. Both had used all their individual skills to try and track Daniel's last movements but all they had come up with was a recently destroyed Mayan temple and a broken pair of glasses.  
  
"Do you feel that? Feels like we are in for a storm." The air was full of static as though waiting for the first roll of thunder to crack overhead. Sam looked up suspiciously expecting dark clouds to be scudding over the evening sky.  
  
Teal'c also looked up to the sky, eyes scanning the twilight. "I do not believe that to be so, Major Carter."  
  
"What is it, Teal'c?" O'Neill had picked up on the Jaffa's tone.  
  
A sheet of lightening bolted down from the apparently clear sky, sundering the earth within the temple and almost blinding them with its brilliance. Instinctively they raised their arms to shield their faces from the flash.  
  
"Hey guys, what are you doing here?"  
  
As they lowered their arms Daniel and Vicky seemed to walk out of a curtain of lightning toward them.  
  
Three astonished pairs of eyes locked onto Daniel's mildly curious blue ones.  
  
"That's it! Hey guys? Not thanks for coming to rescue me Jack? Thanks for pulling my butt out of the fire yet again! " Jack's voice rang loudly in Daniel's ears.  
  
"And who's your friend?" The weapon in Jack's hands now pointed at Vicky who stood by Daniel's side.  
  
"Ah, Jack, I didn't actually need rescuing, and this is Victoria Ramirez." Daniel kept a straight face even as he struggled to contain his delight and amusement at Jack's predictable reaction.  
  
Teal'c had taken a step forward, attracting Daniel's attention. The jaffa nodded slowly, unperturbed as usual. "Doctor Jackson."  
  
Daniel nodded back, just a solemn, though a slight smile played around his eyes.  
  
"Daniel, you're okay?" Sam put her arms around him, hugging him close.  
  
"I'm fine, Sam," returning her embrace. "Vicky this is Sam Carter, I told you about her." The two women shook hands warily.  
  
"You did what, Daniel? Have you forgotten everything since you went on holiday?" Caution and a warning lanced Jack's words.  
  
"It's okay, Jack. We got caught up in the middle of something here and I had to explain certain things to Vicky. In fact I'm going to ask her to come back to Cheyenne with us."  
  
"What?" Jack and Sam exclaimed in unison. Teal'c raised one eyebrow in Daniel's direction and Vicky stood speechless her eyes blazing. He might have to do some fast-talking later.  
  
Jack grabbed Daniel's arm and dragged him off to one side, away from where Carter, Teal'c had flanked Vicky. "You and I need to have a little talk."  
  
"Jack," Daniel pulled himself out of Jack's grip, his voice low and angry. "Don't do that."  
  
"Just what do you think you are doing?" Jack hissed eyes locked to Daniel's face. "You do not go round telling everyone you meet about the SGC, about us for Christ's sake!"  
  
"Are you going to calm down?" Daniel said levelly.  
  
O'Neill fingered the weapon in his hand, angry with Daniel for still being the stubborn pain in the ass he had been before he left the mountain. "Talk - fast."  
  
Daniel's attention wandered to where Vicky now stood talking animatedly to Sam. He watched mesmerised as the last dying rays of the sun caught the highlights of her hair. He had made his decision, she had to come back with them. Personal feelings aside, and he was ready to admit that perhaps he liked her more than he should, her skills as a linguist would not be lost to the SGC. Now he just had to convince Jack and Vicky that he was right.  
  
A stray thought sent his attention off in another direction entirely. "Why did you come looking for me?"  
  
"Let's see," Jack's tone oozed sarcasm. "There was this strange pulsing emission emanating from the jungles of Belize. That block in Sam's lab was going on and off like a kid playing with the light switch. Doc Fraiser started to get the willies thinking it was some kind of brainwashing device, and, oh yeah, knowing you were out here…need I go on?"  
  
"Oh. Well I guess I did set that off," Daniel murmured, his eyes now on the outlined broken blocks of the once proud temple. "Still, Chak made sure that doesn't happen again."  
  
"Who's Chak?" Jack's patience was beginning to wear thin.  
  
"Hum? Chak was one of the earliest of the Mayan gods. The rain god actually, manifesting in thunder and lightening. Benevolent, thankfully. It was his writing on the walls here; all his other works have been destroyed. Remember the four races Thor told you about?" Daniel hardly waited for Jack's nodded response. "Well Chak is a Furling. Do you know what that means Jack?"  
  
"No, but I'm sure you're gonna tell me anyway."  
  
" A precursor to the Goa'uld. Actually judge and jury to the Goa'uld. This," he indicated the devastation around him, "This was a place of judgement."  
  
"And how did you get mixed up in this. Ah, don't tell me, you touched something you shouldn't have, am I right? No, don't answer that Daniel. Just tell me how she comes into it," he indicated Vicky with a nod of his head.  
  
It was almost dark now, and Daniel could barely make out where Sam, Teal'c and Vicky were putting together a campsite. Then flames flickered brightly as the fire was lit, giving him something to focus his attention on.  
  
"Vicky was my guide to the ruins. Her grandfather and Nick explored these hills for years trying to find the ruined temple where they found the crystal skull. At least that is the tale they told to me and to Vicky. I've read their journals, I don't know what they were up to Jack, but finding the temple wasn't it. Anyway, Vicky and I were heading to the search area; we ended up here. You should have seen the carvings on the walls, Jack. I've never seen anything so detailed so complete."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, archaeologist's Disney. What happened!"  
  
Daniel threw Jack a look that could have seared through concrete, the effect lost in the darkness around them.  
  
"Vicky knew the whole pantheon. Knew the histories, the myths. Her knowledge is spectacular, and not just Mayan. We talked for a long time about Egyptian mythology, Indian, Chinese… She's fluent in ten languages."  
  
"So, she's smart." Jack deadpanned, interrupting Daniel's gathering momentum.  
  
"Very. And tough too. Chak's transport system left a lot to be desired. It was obvious we were no longer in an environment found on Earth. Chak may have looked human but he most definitely is not. She took on board the whole alien culture idea, after a little persuasion. Jack, she knows about aliens, she understands the need for secrecy and I don't want to lose her talents. Hammond told me to find a linguist, anthropologist for the SGC, I want Vicky."  
  
Jack eyed his companion, suddenly wary. Daniel, once he got an idea into his head, good or bad, was the very devil to divert.  
  
"Then why wasn't she on your list? What's she doing tramping the jungles instead of teaching somewhere, or digging up dead stuff?"  
  
Daniel's voice lowered confidentially. "She lost her father two years ago and didn't get a chance to finish her doctorate. That doesn't mean she isn't qualified to do the job. She kept calm on Chak's ship. Some of it wasn't …pleasant."  
  
"What happened up there Daniel?" Jack was used to Daniel's vehemence, but he was sure it hadn't just been a 'meet and greet', thanks for visiting and come around again soon.  
  
Daniel shook his head. "Later Jack. I'll tell you later." Suddenly he was bone weary again. A month of nightmares topped off by a couple of days fighting for his sanity had left its mark. Slowly he made his way to the flickering light that beckoned him to its warmth. Vicky's eyes were still angry but he sat himself near her, propped up against a large broken slab, smiling at Sam as she handed him his first cup of coffee for over a week.  
  
Lines creased his brow as tension seeped up his back and into his neck, he was so very tired. As his eyes drifted shut he became aware of the touch of Vicky's fingers on the back of his hand.  
  
"You're going to spill your coffee, Doctor Jackson."  
  
"Daniel," he mumbled, as she pulled the cup from his hands and sleep took him.  
  
***  
  
Epilogue  
  
It was late, everyone had vacated the bar and only Daniel and Vicky remained sitting at a table on the balcony, the wash of the ocean a background to their conversation. The rest of SG1 had retired, giving Daniel time alone with his problem.  
  
All the way back down the mountain Daniel had tried, unsuccessfully, to talk to her about joining the SGC, about making use of her talents in a more positive way. And all the way back through the jungle she had turned off every approach with an adeptness that drove him crazy. Jack's 'I think you need to brush up on your diplomacy skills, Doctor Jackson' had only added to his frustration. Once they had returned to civilisation, Daniel had insisted they stay the night in Belize, he'd had enough of feeling like the jungle was living in his clothing. He wanted to stand for an hour under hot running water, he wanted to top up his energy levels with a huge pot of freshly-ground coffee, but most of all he wanted more time to try and persuade Vicky to stay with them.  
  
She had been a pleasant companion over dinner, and he could see that the others were warming to her beauty and her intelligence, just as he had. Vicky had talked astronomy with Jack, found common ground with Sam and even Teal'c, usually stoic to the nth degree, had unbent enough to recall certain mythologies that he had learned in his childhood. Now they were alone, Vicky's fingers turned her wineglass this way and that, letting the candle on their tiny table glow through the deep red liquid.  
  
"Vicky, why won't you even consider it? It's a fascinating job, it pays well and you could keep the house here and still afford somewhere in the States too."  
  
She stayed quiet, eyes refusing to meet his. Uneasiness entered him as another thought for her refusal took root, one he really didn't want to face.  
  
"Is there someone here that you don't want to leave? Boyfriend," he paused, then, "Husband?"  
  
Vicky's eyes lifted to his as she shook her head. "No," she said softly.  
  
"Then what is it?" His hand reached across the table, fingers stilling hers as they played with the glass stem of her drink.  
  
"Things would get too complicated." Her eyes dropped from his intense gaze.  
  
His fingers tightened on hers, forcing her to look back at him. "Complicated how?"  
  
He watched as she bit her lip, he wasn't used to this holding back from her. And then, as though a decision made, she leaned across the table and kissed him full on the lips before drawing back and moving her hand away from his.  
  
"Complicated," she reiterated.  
  
"Oh." Daniel let his tongue glide over his lips, tasting her there. He stood, moving around the table to stand in front of her. His fingers found her cheek, forcing her face up to meet his as he bent to reciprocate. "I can live with that," he said softly, drawing her up and into his arms.  
  
***  
  
One month later.  
  
Daniel, after donning his military green, hung up his civilian clothes. The letters he had picked up that morning were still shoved in the pocket of his jacket. He had been in such a rush that he had not even read the envelopes. Now, with a few minutes to spare, he turned them over. The top one caught his eye - Vicky. Discarding the envelope on the bench he wandered the room reading her news.  
  
"Hey Daniel, you ready to go?" Jack came in, already dressed and armed.  
  
"In a minute," Daniel's tone was distracted.  
  
Jack moved around the room, noting the pile of letters and one empty envelope. Sitting on the bench he casually turned it over, and saw the postmark.  
  
"Everything okay with Vicky?"  
  
"Fine. She takes her finals in a month's time but she's escorting one last trip into the hills, three weeks with some wealthy tourists who want to try living rough. She says she needs some space before the exams. They left day before yesterday and will be back on the twentieth." As Daniel's eyes drifted down the page, his mouth twitched into a smile.  
  
"Good news?" Jack was bored, and Daniel's letter was a mild distraction. "Why does she write so often anyway, hasn't she heard of the phone?"  
  
"You can't keep a phone call, Jack," Daniel replied, tucking the letter away. "So are you ready to go?"  
  
"Me?" Jack's voice was indignant as he followed Daniel out to the embarkation room.  
  
***  
  
Stepping into the facility, the security escort left their side. In front of them stood a tall, open-faced man who quickly introduced himself.  
  
"This is incredible! It is a pleasure to meet you. I, I'm Jonas Quinn. I'm special advisor to our High Minister."  
  
  
  
The end.  
  
  
  
Belated author's note.  
  
My thanks to those of you who stuck with this, and apologies for making you wait for the ending. Thanks to Karen for last minute editing skills - ta everso.  
  
All feedback most welcome. Feel free to review g or mail me off line. 


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